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The Friday forecast in Indianapolis is officially Cloudy with a chance of a payday thanks to a New York Liberty star.
Natasha Cloud got WNBA All-Star Friday started on a high note for the Liberty, prevailing in the Skills Challenge at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. She swept both rounds of the competition, barely beating out former local star Erica Wheeler (Seattle) by just over a second.
Cloudy with a chance of money!
Tash Cloud is your 2025 #WNBA Skills Challenge champion #WNBA #LightItUpNYL pic.twitter.com/NWPW3esw5d
— Geoff Magliocchetti (@GeoffJMags) July 19, 2025
Upon her victory, Cloud was warmly greeted by Wheeler, a former Indiana Fever star who took her defeat graciously, Liberty teammate and 2022 Skills Challenge champion Sabrina Ionescu, and another New Yorker in Isabelle Harrison. In her post-event interview with Holly Rowe of ESPN, Cloud said that she plans to spend the prize money on a house for her and her girlfriend Harrison.
The Skills Challenge tested players’ prowess in bounce and chest passes, as well as shot in the corner, at the elbow, at the top of the key, and through a driving layup. Cloud’s confidence was evident from the get-go, as she was inching away from the shooting racks even before her attempts fell. Cloud swept both stages of the event, taking round one with a time of 34.1 seconds.
With the win, the Liberty become the third team in Skills Challenge history to have multiple women prevail in the event, joining the Las Vegas Aces (Becky Hammon and Sophia Young in their San Antonio Silver Stars incarnation) and the Minnesota Lynx (Seimone Augustus and Charde Houston). Ionescu, who is set to compete in the 3-Point Contest later on Friday, previously prevailed in the 2022 event in Chicago.
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