Arike Ogunbowale poured in 25 points and Satou Sabally added 21 as the surging Dallas Wings took over in the second half and rolled to a 94-76 win over the visiting Minnesota Lynx on Friday in Arlington, Texas.
The Wings (9-22) captured their season-best third straight victory and stayed in the running for a playoff spot. Dallas is tied with Washington in 10th place, just two spots out of the postseason with nine games to play.
Dallas led 68-59 after three periods and took charge for good by scoring nine of the first 10 points of the final quarter. That 17-point advantage was more than enough to carry the Wings to their second consecutive win over Minnesota, a playoff team which had its seven-game winning streak snapped.
Natasha Howard added 17 points for Dallas, which held the Lynx (the WNBA’s top 3-point shooting team) to just 28.6 percent from beyond the arc. Teaira McCowan amassed 11 points and 11 rebounds, Sevgi Uzan also had 11 points and Kalani Brown scored 10 for the Wings.
Napheesa Collier paced Minnesota (23-9) with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Kayla McBride had 14 points, Bridget Carleton hit for 12 and Cecilia Zandalasini added 11 for the Lynx.
The Wings used a 6-0 run capped by Howard’s layup at the 4:33 mark of the first quarter to build a 12-6 advantage. Minnesota whittled its deficit to three when Natasha Hiedeman hit a finger roll with 2:01 left in the period. Dallas led 22-18 after 10 minutes of play.
Dallas began the second period with a 9-4 run and led 31-22 after a Brown layup at the 7:01 mark. The Lynx battled back, knotting the game at 36 on Carleton’s 3-pointer with 1:49 to play until halftime and taking a 38-37 lead on two free throws by Collier a minute later. Minnesota held a 40-39 edge at the break.
Collier’s 13 points before halftime led all scorers while Sabally, Ogunbowale and Howard had 10 points each at the half to pace Dallas.
The Lynx were up 44-42 two minutes into the third before Dallas swung back, forging a 7-0 run punctuated by a drive by Sabally leapfrog to a 49-42 advantage. Dallas stretched its lead to 11 on Maddy Siegrist’s layup with 1:11 to go in the third and carried a 68-59 edge to the final quarter.
–Field Level Media
