Rookie guard Paige Bueckers scored 20 points with her college coach looking on as the Dallas Wings snapped a seven-game losing streak, defeating the Golden State Valkyries 80-71 on Tuesday at Arlington, Texas.
It took late-game defense to get the job done for the Wings (2-11), who won for the first time in six home games this year. Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale posted 19 points, and Kaila Charles added 10 points off the bench.
Monique Billings’ 18 points and Kayla Thornton’s 17 points led Golden State (5-6), which had a three-game winning streak end. Reserves Laeticia Amihere and Tiffany Hayes added 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Golden State shot 40.7 percent from the floor and went 16-for-23 on free throws. The Wings were good on 15 of 19 free throws.
Dallas overcame 39.2-percent shooting from the floor, including a 7-for-27 mark (25.9 percent) from 3-point range. NaLyssa Smith grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to help the Wings compile a 39-28 edge on the glass.
Bueckers, the No. 1 overall pick in this spring’s WNBA draft out of national champion Connecticut, had her college coach, Geno Auriemma, in attendance. Bueckers shot 9-for-18 from the field, but she missed all five of her 3-point attempts.
There were several back-and-forth stretches across the final three quarters before Billings drained a 3-pointer to draw the Valkyries even at 70-all with 4:56 left. That turned out to be the last Golden State field goal of the game.
Bueckers’ jumper and Ogunbowale’s 3-pointer made it 75-70 as Golden State went through a scoring drought of more than four minutes.
Missed shots, including a pair of off-the-mark free throws from Billings, and turnovers contributed to the Valkyries’ offensive malfunction down the stretch.
Dallas didn’t pull away because it went more than two minutes without scoring a point until Myisha Hines-Allen drained a foul shot with 1:21 left.
Veronica Burton went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line for the Valkyries with 31.1 seconds left before Bueckers sank two free throws at the 19.4-second mark for a 78-71 lead.
The Wings led 23-16 after the first quarter with Bueckers providing eight points.
Center Li Yueru, in her first game with the Wings after a weekend trade from Seattle, had two points, two rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes off the bench.
–Field Level Media
