Arike Ogunbowale scored 32 points and Jessica Shepard added a career-high 26 as the host Dallas Wings took charge in the third quarter and defeated the Indiana Fever 91-85 on Thursday at American Airlines Center, the Wings’ home away from home.
The Wings led by five points after three quarters of the back-and-forth clash. Dallas increased the margin to 74-64 after a Paige Bueckers’ jumper with 7:29 to play and to 83-72 when Ogunbowale converted a finger roll layup with 3:08 left.
Indiana pulled to within 85-79 on Kelsey Mitchell’s three-point play with 51 seconds remaining but would get no closer down the stretch, putting an end to its five-game winning streak.
Bueckers added 13 points for Dallas (21-16) while Awak Kuier scored 11 points and set a franchise record for blocked shots with seven.
Mitchell led the Fever (24-13) with a game-high 37 points. Aliyah Boston added 14, Makayla Timpson finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Caitlin Clark scored 10 points on 4 of 15 shooting from the floor.
Indiana led 22-18 after one quarter, but a free throw by Bueckers tied the game at 24 with 7:08 to play in the second quarter. The Wings rallied to take their first lead of the game when Kuier poured in a 3-pointer at the 3:54 mark, after which the lead switched hands twice and the game was knotted three times.
Mitchell scored on a driving layup with four seconds remaining that tied the game at 42 heading to the break.
Shepard led all scorers with 22 points while scoring 20 of the Wings’ first 28 points through the first five minutes of the second quarter. Kuier produced a career high in blocked shots with five in just the first half for Dallas.
Meanwhile Mitchell racked up 21 points before halftime, establishing a WNBA record for consecutive contests with 20 or more points at 21.
The third quarter belonged to Ogunbowale, who scored 11 straight points that included a three-point play with 2:53 to play in the period that staked the Wings to a 59-54 advantage. She ended up with 15 points in the quarter that finished with Dallas ahead 66-61.
The game drew a sellout crowd of 20,297 fans. The Wings play the majority of their games at College Park Arena in Arlington, which has a capacity of 7,250.
–Field Level Media
