Things, and Wings, fall apart.
The Dallas Wings (7-18) let a winnable game get away from them on Friday, dropping an 86-76 decision to the Golden State Valkyries (11-12) at Chase Center. The Valkyries made their decisive third-quarter run hold up by fending off a sluggish Wings offense down the stretch in the fourth, after Dallas held Golden State to just 10 points in the first quarter.
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Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes, who came into the game shooting 46% from 3-point range, hit two early long-balls to give Las Vegas an early 6-0 lead before taking an elbow to the grill from a driving JJ Quinerly that was called a charge midway through the first quarter. Aziaha James gave the Wings a lift off the bench and their first lead of the game later in the quarter on a scooping drive with 3:30 left in the first, then hit a 3-pointer from the left wing the next trip down on a clever find from Paige Bueckers to give Dallas a 12-8 lead.
James has consistently been instant offense for this team over the last 10 or 11 games. It’s nice to have that spark coming in off the bench, but she needs to be a bigger part of the Wings’ game plan going forward. Dallas ended the first quarter on a 16-2 run and took a 21-10 lead into the second.
The Wings started the second quarter by missing five straight field goal attempts, including missed layups by Quinerly and Hayley Jones. Golden State ran off nine straight points to open the quarter, forcing a timeout from Wings head coach Chris Koclanes with 6:28 left in the half. Bueckers, who came into the game ninth in the WNBA in scoring at 18.2 points per game, didn’t score until the 5:05 mark of the second quarter. Bueckers found Ogunbowale open deep on the left wing on the previous possession to stop the bleeding and preserve a 24-19 lead for Dallas.
Ogunbowale came off a dribble-handoff screen from Luisa Geiselsoder the next time down for her second 3-ball, which gave the Wings a 29-22 advantage with four minutes to play in the half. She made 4-of-6 from the field in the first half to lead all scorers with 11 points at the break after scoring a team-high 20 in Tuesday’s 87-63 upset win at the Seattle Storm.
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Buecklers knocked down her second 3-pointer of the game after Quinerly chased down a long offensive rebound on the Wings’ first possession of the third. Then Bueckers picked off an errant pass thrown by Golden State guard Veronica Burton and found Ogunbowale open in transition for her third 3-ball to put Dallas up 42-30 and force a Valkyries timeout just 42 seconds into the second half. When they’re both clicking like that, Bueckers and Ogunbowale give Dallas one of the best 1-2 backcourt punches in the W.
Arike Ogunbowale #24 of the Dallas Wings scores during a WNBA game against the Golden State Valkyries on July 25, 2025 at Chase Center in San Francisco, CA.
But midway through the third, Golden State stretch big Iliana Rupert hit back-to-back 3-pointers to bring the Valkyries back to within two points down, just 53-51, with 3:57 left in the frame. Janelle Salaun tied the game, 54-54, on her first 3-pointer of the game on Golden State’s next possession. The Wings were all of a sudden outside their own bodies, watching themselves implode once again. Golden State outscored Dallas 33-18 over the last nine minutes of the third quarter and took a 63-60 lead into the fourth after Hayes drove the length of the floor in the last five seconds for one more demoralizing score.
Bueckers put her stamp on the game in the fourth, but Dallas just couldn’t string together stops down the stretch. She made a couple of strong moves going to the bucket to keep the Wings within one possession of the lead, then tied the game, 71-71, on a drive through the teeth of the Valkyries’ defense with 5:25 left to play. Her 3-point play with a defender draped on her back with 2:10 left cut Golden State’s lead to 78-75 and gave Bueckers 17 points on the night to go along with six assists and four steals.
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Quinerly missed a pair of free throws that could have tied the game with 4:25 left to play, then James went 1-for-2 from the line a minute later as the Wings left points on the court all night long, both from the line and with missed bunnies near the basket. Dallas shot just 12-of-19 (63.2%) from the free throw line in the loss.
Ogunbowale came up missing for most of the second half, scoring just two points after making her third 3-pointer to to put the Wings up 42-30 early in the third. She took just two shots in the second half and finished with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Golden State outscored Dallas 76-55 over the final three quarters on Friday after Valkyries All-Star guard Kayla Thornton was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a right knee injury in practice that required surgery. Hayes led the way for Golden State with 17 points in the win, and Salaun added 16 in Thornton’s absence.
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