Three Pointers: WNBA All-Star Game

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On Saturday, East and West collide, as the best women’s hoops stars in the world battle for league supremacy in the Boost Mobile WNBA All-Star Game. It will be the 13th time the game has been played. Here what you need to know:

Where to watch

The game will be played at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, but those without tickets can watch the game on TV, beginning at 3:30 p.m. on WRTV-Channel 6.

Who to watch

This year’s all-star game will have a large sampling of Hoosier flavor, as two Indiana Fever players and two former prep stars were named to the teams. Fever guard Tamika Catchings was voted an Eastern Conference all-star starter, and her Fever teammate, Marissa Coleman, will join her on the squad as a reserve. Coleman will be making her all-star game debut, while Catchings will be playing in her 10th such contest.

Another East reserve is Indianapolis’ own Alex Bentley. Bentley attended Ben Davis High School before heading to Penn State and eventually joining her current team, the Connecticut Sun. Skylar Diggins, who starred in high school in South Bend and went on to play at Notre Dame, rounds out the all-stars selections with Indiana connections, though the Tulsa Shock guard will miss Saturday’s game because of a season-ending ACL tear in her right knee.

Fun facts

  • Including Coleman, seven players will be making their WNBA All-Star Game debuts.
  • The Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird will be participating in her ninth WNBA All-Star Game. She has made the team all but one season (she missed the 2013 game due to injury).
  • The West has won the all-star game eight times, including the first six, beginning in 1999. The East won last year’s game 125-124. The East has won back-to-back all-star games once (2006-07).
  • The all-star game has been skipped four times in WNBA history. In 2004, ’08 and ’12 because of the Summer Olympics and in 2010 because of the FIBA World Championships.