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<\/p>\nARLINGTON, TX \u2014 The Dallas Wings (8-19) served up a rare treat on Monday at College Park Center.<\/p>\n
The Wings thumped the defending WNBA Champion New York Liberty (17-8) in front of a sellout crowd. Breanna Stewart or no Breanna Stewart, the 92-82 win over the Liberty was easily the best thing the Wings have done all season. They played their best first quarter of the year, then followed it up with an even better second quarter. They refused to wilt in the second half, and even when their shooting went cold in the fourth quarter, they found a way to get enough stops to outlast the New York run. They were fundamentally sound, minus six missed layups, which continue to be a problem. But that can be excused when you dominate one of the league\u2019s best teams in every other facet of the game for three quarters or so.<\/p>\n
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Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale both hit pull-up jumpers to kick-start the Wings\u2019 offense early in the first quarter. Bueckers caused a turnover after Ogunbowale scored her second bucket on a broken play going to the rim, then cashed in another pull-up from the extended elbow to put Dallas up 11-2 and force a New York timeout with 7:04 left in the first.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made it a point to communicate with each other more \u2014 pick each other up more,\u201d Ogunbowale said of the budding on-court chemistry with Bueckers. \u201cBuilding that relationship, that chemistry and knowing that we\u2019re two leads on this team, a lot goes through us and we\u2019ve got to be on the same page \u2014 we\u2019ve just been really intentional about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The timeout couldn\u2019t cool Ogunbowale\u2019s touch from the outside, as Dallas\u2019 star guard has turned a corner on offense in the past three games. She hit her first 3-pointer of the game with 6:15 left in the first on a swing pass from Bueckers to put the Wings up 14-2. Then Luisa Geiselsoder took advantage of the extra room in the lane with Stewart missing for the Liberty due to a leg injury for Dallas\u2019 next two scores. Then, DiJonai Carrington came into the game midway through the first and immediately scored on a driving 3-point play over Sabrina Ionescu to extend the Wings\u2019 opening run to 21-4.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnergy. Defensive tenacity to get up and get into people,\u201d Wings head coach Chris Koclanes said. \u201cWe got stops, then we could run, then we could play in transition. Proud of our start that way. We found some disruption early, we were aggressive at the point of attack, and our flow behind was good as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Ionescu got off to a slow start for New York, turning the ball over on her first two touches before fouling Carrington to create the 3-point play opportunity. Jonquel Jones and Stephanie Talbot each hit corner 3-pointers late in the first to inch New York closer, but Monday\u2019s first quarter was still probably the Wings\u2019 best opener of the year. The team shot 13-of-22 from the floor (59.1%), and Bueckers and Ogunbowale combined to shoot 7-of-10 between them.<\/p>\n
Dallas led 31-19 at the end of one, then shot themselves out of a cannon again to start the second. Li Yueru scored her second put-back of the game, then Bueckers crossed Talbot into oblivion along the baseline to set up a gorgeous fading jumper in between two driving scores from Grace Berger, who is on her second seven-day temporary deal with the team, to force another Liberty timeout with Dallas up 39-19.<\/p>\n
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Paige Bueckers #5 of the Dallas Wings handles the ball during the game against the New York Liberty on July 28, 2025 at the College Park Center in Arlington, TX.<\/p>\n
Even when the Wings weren\u2019t on a run, the defense turned into transition offense, Dallas was clean with the ball in the halfcourt and the Wings imposed their will on the game against the defending WNBA champs. They followed up their best first quarter of the season with an even better second to take a 63-36 lead over the Liberty into the locker room at the half. It was baffling at times, but it was also some of the most exciting basketball the College Park Center crowd has been treated to over the course of Dallas\u2019 7-19 start to the year.<\/p>\n
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At the half, the Wings were winning the turnover battle 8-3 and killed the Liberty 18-1 in points off those turnovers. Ogunbowale led all scorers with 15 points at the break, but she also dished a season-high 10 assists in the first half as well. Geiselsoder added 12 points for Dallas, and Bueckers had 11 points and four rebounds. The Wings\u2019 defense held Ionescu to just one point on 0-of-5 shooting in the first two quarters.<\/p>\n
How do all of those things happen in the same half, considering the hard-scrabble season the Wings are battling through?<\/p>\n
The hits kept playing in the third, too. Ogunbowale found Bueckers for a deep 3-pointer along the left wing with 6:35 left in the frame for Bueckers\u2019 second 3-ball of the game, which put Dallas up 75-47 and forced another frustrating timeout from Liberty coach Sandy Brondello. The Wings were smoking hot once again, scoring 12 points in just over three minutes to open the second half.<\/p>\n
Ogunbowale tied her career-high mark of 13 assists late in the third. Right after Carrington checked in once again, Ogunbowale found her on a back-cut for a laser of a lob pass. Ogunbowale tore through the New York defense the next time down for a contested driving hoop to give the Wings an 82-57 lead. New York played with more intensity on both ends of the floor coming out of halftime, but Dallas matched it, never resting on laurels or their 25-point lead.<\/p>\n
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Then things got iffy in the fourth. Dallas scored just three points in the first seven minutes of the proceedings to let the Liberty, who were content to drive and take their free throws nearly every time down the floor to inch their way back into it. The shots that fell for three quarters rattled off the rim in the fourth. Aziaha James\u2019 corner 3-pointer with 6:49 left to play put Dallas ahead 88-65, but New York cobbled together a 12-0 run over the next four-plus minutes to whittle it down to 11 on a 3-pointer, a baseline jumper and two free throws from Ionescu, with free throws from everyone else on the New York roster mixed in.<\/p>\n
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Aziaha James #10 of the Dallas Wings drives to the basket against Jonquel Jones #35 of the New York Liberty during the second half of a game at College Park Center on July 28, 2025 in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Then, Jonquel Jones nailed her second 3-ball of the game at the worst time from a Dallas standpoint. It cut the Wings\u2019 lead to 88-82 with 1:44 to play. Dallas shot an anemic 1-for-14 from the field in the fourth, with nearly every possession coming down to a heave with one or two seconds left on the shot clock. Bueckers and Carrington each hit a pair of free throws down the stretch to preserve the 92-82 win. The Wings scored just seven points in the fourth, but somehow it was enough to beat one of the best teams in the game on the second night of a back-to-back set.<\/p>\n
Ogunbowale and Bueckers each scored a game-high 20 points, but Ogunbowale set a new career-high mark and tied the Wings\u2019 franchise record with 14 assists in the win as well. She turned the ball over just once, too. It was a remarkable game.<\/p>\n
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\u201c[I\u2019m] incredibly proud [of] her resolve,\u201d Koclanes said of Ogunbowale\u2019s four-game run since the All-Star break. \u201cThis is a long season, so these stretches come, but to hear how level-headed [Ogunbowale and Bueckers] are is just so encouraging. Proud that Arike has continued to stick with it and believe and invest in herself and her teammates. She\u2019s ben more calm \u2014 letting the game come to her and, to her point, trusting her teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bueckers grabbed six boards and nabbed three steals in a complete game that only could have been better if she would have taken more ownership over the fourth quarter for her team when things started to go wrong. Jones led the Liberty with 18 points in the loss, while Ionescu scored 16 of her 17 points in the second half.<\/p>\n
More from mavsmoneyball.com:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, TX \u2014 The Dallas Wings (8-19) served up a rare treat on Monday at College Park Center.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":101580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,2339,2474,5336,19492,1596,2470,8731,2338,18408,10483,405,1520,2471,15534,17273,358,19710,18368,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-101579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arike-ogunbowale","10":"tag-aziaha-james","11":"tag-breanna-stewart","12":"tag-college-park-center","13":"tag-dallas","14":"tag-dallas-wings","15":"tag-dijonai-carrington","16":"tag-jonquel-jones","17":"tag-li-yueru","18":"tag-luisa-geiselsoder","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-new-york-liberty","21":"tag-paige-bueckers","22":"tag-sabrina-ionescu","23":"tag-stephanie-talbot","24":"tag-texas","25":"tag-the-liberty","26":"tag-the-wings","27":"tag-tx","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-united-states-of-america","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114935534913054152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}