Arike Ogunbowale scored 20 points, including six in the final 2:39 of the game after Paige Bueckers left with an injury, as the Dallas Wings marched to their sixth straight win via a 90-82 decision over the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.
The Wings (17-8) enjoyed a six-point lead at halftime after an uneven half and were up by five after three quarters. Bueckers and Nneka Ogwumike collided on a Ogwumike drive into the paint with 3:33 to play and Dallas holding onto an 80-76 advantage, with Bueckers on the floor for several minutes with an apparent head injury that forced her from the game.
Dallas responded with a basket by Odyssey Sims and three buckets by Ogunbowale to push its lead to seven points and held on through the final minute.
The Wings’ winning streak is their longest since the 2015 season when the franchise was located in Tulsa.
Bueckers finished with 25 points for Dallas while Jessica Shepard had 11 points and 14 rebounds and Azzi Fudd also scored 11 points.
Ogwumike led the Sparks (10-15) with 17 points and 10 rebounds, with Dearica Hamby adding 16 points before fouling out, Cameron Brink hitting for 10 and Erica Wheeler dishing out 10 assists. Los Angeles, which has lost four straight, played without star guard Kelsey Plum, who remains on the shelf with a left leg injury.
Both teams led through a back-and-forth first quarter, with Dallas going up 15-8 on a Fudd 3-pointer six minutes into the game. Los Angeles trimmed its deficit to two points after Hamby’s layup with 1:28 left but the Wings finished off the quarter with eight straight points and carried a 27-17 advantage after 10 minutes of play.
The Sparks clawed back to within four points when Brink canned a pair of free throws with 7:08 to play in the second period. Dallas stoked the margin to 40-29 after a flagrant foul free throw with 4:38 left before Los Angeles swung back, pulling to 46-40 with a late 11-6 run to cap the first half.
Bueckers’ 12 points led all scorers before halftime while Ogunbowale had 10 for the Wings. Hamby had eight points to pace Los Angeles.
The Sparks rallied to the lead in the third quarter, using a 9-0 run that was punctuated by Ogwunike’s layup to go up 51-50 with 5:42 to go in the period. From there, the lead changed hands six times before Dallas asserted itself with seven straight points.
The Wings took a 68-63 advantage into the final quarter.
–Field Level Media
