Allisha Gray wins WNBA Skills Challenge, pockets whopping $55,000 award after defeating Mercury star in final

Atlanta Dream All-Star guard Allisha Gray won the WNBA Skills Challenge on Friday during the WNBA All-Star weekend in Phoenix, defeating hometown bet Sophie Cunningham in the final. For her efforts, she received a $55,000 award on top of the competition trophy.

The 2017 Rookie of the Year had the fastest time in the preliminary round, part of the WNBA All-Star festivities that combines passing, dribbling and shooting.

Gray and Phoenix Mercury's Cunningham had their struggles from the 3-point line in the championship round, but Allisha Gray still managed to finish the obstacle course in an impressive 32.1 seconds, better than Cunningham's 34.2.

Following her victory, the Atlanta star guard showed her appreciation to the fans at Footprint Center, saying:

"I mean, it's amazing, the W fans are amazing. We wouldn't be the players that we are without them... So thank you, fans!"

The $55,000 that Allisha Gray received is incidentally far higher than her $51,591 WNBA rookie salary after she was drafted No. 4 overall in 2017 by the Dallas Wings.

Apart from Gray and Cunningham, the Connecticut Sun's Marina Mabrey, Mercury's Brittney Griner and Indiana Fever's Kelsey Mitchell – who replaced teammate Erica Wheeler at the last minute – also competed in the skills challenge.

Allisha Gray also competed in the 3-Point Contest later the same night. She went on to win that competition as well, becoming the first WNBA player to win both the Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest in the same year.

Allisha Gray to play in 2nd WNBA All-Star Game

The guard continues to soar with the Atlanta Dream as she is set to make her second straight appearance in the WNBA All-Star Game.

The former South Carolina standout is one of 12 WNBA stars seeing action in the league's Midseason Classic against Team USA in the All-Star Game on Saturday.

Gray shared her excitement over her latest All-Star selection, particularly how it speaks well of her time in Atlanta.

She said (via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution):

"It's very exciting, coming to Atlanta obviously is the best thing to happen in my career. I say this all the time but coming to Atlanta revived my career."

Gray is in her second season with the Dream after spending six years in Dallas. In the ongoing campaign, she is leading Atlanta (7-17) in scoring with 15.5 points per contest, to go along with 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

Notably, she is the fifth player in the team's history to earn multiple WNBA All-Star selections.

In the WNBA All-Star squad, she is joined by rookie sensations Caitlin Clark (Indiana) and Angel Reese (Chicago) as well as Dewanna Bonner and Brionna Jones (Connecticut), Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell (Indiana), Dearica Hamby (LA Sparks), Jonquel Jones (New York), Kayla McBride (Minnesota), Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas) and Nneka Ogwumike (Seattle).