Arike Ogunbowale poured in 21 points and Dallas got a huge boost from its reserves as the Wings took charge in the third quarter to defeat the Atlanta Dream 68-55 on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.
The Wings (4-12) led by just two at halftime but by 10 heading into the fourth quarter. Three free throws by Aziaha James with 7:08 remaining stoked the Wings’ lead to 11. Paige Bueckers’ jumper with 5:29 left pushed the score to 62-49 and Dallas was able to waltz home from there.
Dallas won for the third time in its past four contests while the Dream (10-5) had a two-game winning streak snapped. The Wings’ bench players outscored their Atlanta counterparts 21-5.
Bueckers added 12 points, James finished with 11 and Li Yueru racked up 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for the Wings. Dallas played its second straight game without the injured DiJonai Carrington, its third leading scorer.
Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard led all scorers with 23 points and added eight rebounds. Allisha Gray had 13 points and Brionna Jones hit for 12. Atlanta shot just 23.4 percent from the floor.
The game went back and forth in the first quarter before the Wings reeled off the final 11 points of the period, leapfrogging from a 10-8 deficit at the 2:53 mark to a 19-10 lead entering the second quarter.
Dallas pushed its advantage to 10 when Ogunbowale canned a jumper with 3:58 to play in the first half. But the Dream swung back, finishing the half with a 12-4 run capped by a pair of free throws from Jones with 32 seconds left to draw to within 31-29 at the break.
Howard led all scorers before halftime with a dozen points while Dallas was led by eight points each from Bueckers, Ogunbowale and Yueru. Neither team shot well in the first half, with the Dream shooting 9 of 37 from the floor (24.3 percent), while the Wings shot 34.1 percent (13 of 26).
Atlanta trimmed its deficit to a point early in the third before the Wings reeled off the ensuing nine points, punctuated by a bucket by Bueckers to push their advantage to 40-30. The Dream got no closer than five the rest of the period, and Dallas led 50-40 heading into the final quarter.
–Field Level Media
