There is a special sound when real WNBA shooters get going. The ball leaves the hand, the crowd rises early, and you can feel the defense sag in spirit before the net even moves. Three point excellence in this league is not just about pretty form. It is about range, repeatable mechanics, and the nerve to keep firing when legs get heavy and seasons feel long.
This list focuses on WNBA shooters whose three point work changed how teams guard, how coaches scheme, and how fans remember big nights. Some are stars, some are specialists, all have stretches where every shot felt like a bad idea for the other team.
Why three point excellence matters in this league
The WNBA has always had skill, but the arc changed the geometry of the game.
Stretch guards and wings create space for drives and post play. Shooting bigs pull rim protectors out of the paint. Teams that can put three or four real threats on the floor at once crack open even elite defenses.
Three point excellence also helps careers last. When legs lose a step, a pure release and quick read can still tilt games. That is why the league record books and playoff highlights are filled with the same names from deep, over and over.
Methodology: For this ranking we used official WNBA stats, game logs, and trusted reporting, weighing three point volume, efficiency, playoff production, contest performances, and longevity, with era and role context breaking ties.
The shooters who warp spacing
1. Diana Taurasi defines WNBA shooters
The defining picture of WNBA shooters might be Taurasi strolling into a pull up three several steps behind the line as if it is a free throw. She retired as the league career leader in threes, with more than 1,400 makes and seasons where she took eight or nine attempts a night without blinking.
Her volume and difficulty separate her from the pack. Many guards have efficient percentage years. Taurasi kept bombing while drawing the hardest defenders and still carried Phoenix through long playoff runs. She once said it was about not being afraid of the moment, and every deep shot in an elimination game backed that up.
There is also the edge. Coaches game planned for her range the way teams plan for a dominant post player. Fans leaned forward the second she crossed half court.
2. Sue Bird steady from deep
Bird never chased the scoring crown, but her three point shooting was the quiet engine under so many Seattle title runs. She finished second in career threes made, often hovering in the high thirties in percentage while setting up everyone else.
Her best years from deep came even as her athleticism dipped, proof of a repeatable stroke and elite decision making. Sue Bird once said that when you are a point guard and not up to par, you are in trouble. Her shooting meant she always stayed a step ahead of that trouble, and Storm fans trusted every big corner three she took.
3. Allie Quigley sets WNBA shooters standard
If you want pure form, you pull up Quigley clips. The ball barely touches her hands before it is gone, and it almost always spins the same way. She finished with more than 500 made threes at nearly 40 percent from deep, the best efficiency among high volume shooters in league history.
Her legend really exploded during three point contests. Quigley won the event four times, more than any NBA or WNBA player. After one overtime round she said it was go time, now or never, and she played like it. Chicago fans still talk about regular season nights where every pin down felt like free points.
4. Katie Smith punishes early WNBA defenses
Long before every team hunted threes, Smith was torching early defensive schemes that still packed the paint. In Minnesota and Detroit she stacked seasons with more than 100 made threes, a rare volume in that era, often shooting around 40 percent.
Her best work came in big games. Smith hit huge threes in title runs, forcing defenses to pick between loading up on post threats or staying attached to her lift cuts. Teammates often said she brought a football player mentality to guard play. Fans saw that when she buried deep shots, turned, and just jogged back as if she already knew.
5. Sabrina Ionescu shocks WNBA shooters
The moment that pushed Ionescu into a three point myth happened in a contest, not a game. She scored 37 points out of a possible 40 in the WNBA three point event, missing only two shots and hitting a long run in a row. It was the best single round in any pro three point contest.
That stroke carried into regular seasons with New York. She has had campaigns with more than three made threes per game while stretching defenses from several feet behind the line. After that record night she said the reward came from all the work she had put into her shot. Young fans saw someone blending guard skills and deep range in a way that feels normal now but will still look wild on replay.
6. Kelsey Plum joins elite WNBA shooters
Plum came into the league with a scorer label, but her deep shooting is what really breaks scouting reports. In Las Vegas she produced seasons near 40 percent from deep while taking high volume, often pulling up in transition or sprinting off staggers.
Once a smaller guard starts hitting threes from the logo in playoff games, coaches have to redraw their defensive maps. Plum did that. Her body language after a made three, quick backpedal and short glare, turned into a signal for Sparks and Storm fans that trouble was coming that night.
7. Maya Moore, big game arc
Moore did everything at a star level, which sometimes hides just how good she was from three. She had seasons around 40 percent on heavy attempts and hit some of the most important threes in Minnesota playoff history, including late clock pull ups that flipped series.
Her threes always felt tied to winning. They came out of defensive stops, out of quick hit plays from sideline timeouts, out of broken possessions where she simply rose and fired. When a wing scores at all three levels and also punishes every short closeout, you get a team that looks unbeatable for long stretches.
8. Jennifer Azzi and pure efficiency
If you want to talk about percentage, you have to bring up Azzi. She shot nearly 46 percent from three for her career, an outrageous number even if the volume was lower than modern guards. Defenses in the late nineties were not built to handle a point guard who could both run the offense and knock down almost every open look.
Her stroke looked like something out of a textbook, and teammates trusted her in end of game sets as much as any high volume scorer. Azzi showed what elite efficiency could look like before the league tilted fully toward three point math.
9. Kristi Toliver off the dribble
Most shooters on this list thrive on catch and shoot looks. Toliver added off the dribble depth to WNBA shooters. She filled seasons around 40 percent from deep while taking many of those threes out of pick and roll, stepping back or pulling up when bigs dropped.
Her playoff runs with Los Angeles and Washington are full of swings where one hot third quarter changed a series. Coaches and teammates praised her confidence. Fans remember the quick hesitation, the sharp step back, and the net barely moving.
10. Arike Ogunbowale fear factor
If you focus only on percentage, you might miss Arike. If you watch games, you cannot. She takes extremely tough threes, many late clock or off balance, and still posts seasons with more than two made threes per night.
Her college buzzer beaters trained fans to expect something wild, and she brought that same late game nerve to Dallas. Defenders know that as long as the ball is in her hands, a three can go up from anywhere. That fear is part of three point greatness too.
11. Riquna Williams heat check legend
Every league needs a pure heat check player. Williams filled that role with style. The peak memory is her 51 point game, which came with eight made threes and long stretches where the defense simply had no answer for her quick release.
She never became a weekly star, but on the right night she turned into the story of the whole schedule. Fans love that kind of player, the one you tell friends about with a simple line: you should have seen the shots she hit.
12. Rhyne Howard and the future of range
Howard is the newest name here, but her arrival felt different. As a rookie in Atlanta she tied the record for threes in a game with nine, then followed with full seasons where defenses already treated her like a veteran star.
She is tall, she can handle, and her three point attempts are not just spot ups. Many come off movement and step backs. Watching her, you can see the next stage of WNBA shooters, where size and deep range live in the same player without any strain.
What comes next
The fun part about three point excellence is that someone always shows up with deeper range or quicker release. College guards arrive already comfortable from well behind the pro line, and young wings treat logo threes like normal shots in pick up runs.
At the same time, veterans like Taurasi and Quigley leave a blueprint for work and craft that numbers alone do not show. The next generation of WNBA shooters will chase their records, but they will also copy their habits.
Somewhere right now, a kid is watching an old clip of a deep WNBA three and thinking, I can do that. The league will be better when she proves it.
Also Read: https://sportsorca.com/wnba/wnba-championship-teams-ranked-for-dominance/
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