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If you wanted to know the Dallas Wings’ (18-9) posture as the WNBA All-Star Break loomed, you need only look as far as the team’s injury report against the Portland Fire (11-16) before Wednesday’s 101-97 win at Moda Center. They could have given superstar Paige Bueckers one more game of rest and recovery after slamming her head to the ground in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 90-82 win over the Los Angeles Sparks in a collision with Nneka Ogwumike.
But each and every win is valuable as the playoff race begins to take shape, and that posture paid off for the Wings against the Fire, as Dallas shook off a slow start for a bounce-back win at Portland. Bueckers scored 21 points and gave out five assists after missing just one game, Monday’s 99-98 loss to the New York Liberty, with what the team called “soreness.” After Wednesday’s win, the Wings are just one game out of second place in both the Western Conference and the overall WNBA standings.
“We got stops when it mattered,” Ogunbowale said in her televised postgame interview. “It’s going to be a great second half of basketball for everybody, but hopefully for the Dallas Wings.”
The Wings went on a 10-0 run late in the first quarter to take an 18-15 lead on Bueckers’ first 3-pointer of the game with 59 seconds left in the frame. Dallas led 18-17 after one despite shooting just 6-of-17 (35.3%) from the field.
The Wings’ porous pick-and-roll defense allowed the Fire to stay close throughout the second quarter. Bueckers made a nifty drive for a scooping layup through traffic with 3:25 left in the half to put Dallas ahead 38-35, and on the other end, Dallas finally combined a score with a stop. The next time down, Bueckers whipped a bullet of a pass to Awak Kuier rolling to the bucket to make it a five-point game.
But Dallas’ defense let the Wings down in the final two minutes of the half, as Portland scored seven straight to take a 42-40 lead into the break. The Fire shot 50% from the field in the first half, while Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Arike Ogunbowale shot a combined 4-of-13 from the field for just 11 points between them. Newlywed Megan DiLeo led all scorers with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting for the Fire at the break.
Kuier turned the ball over on a bad pass to Fudd on the Wings’ first possession of the second, leading to an immediate 3-pointer from Bridget Carleton for Portland. Ogunbowale finally emerged from her first-half funk on the other end, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to bring the Wings to within 47-46 a minute into the third.
Bueckers hit her second less than two minutes later to give the Wings a 53-49 lead, then Fudd connected on one a minute later to make it 56-51. The offense seemed to be waking up for the starting unit, but the defense kept giving the Fire open looks on the other end. Carla Leite nailed a 3-ball from the top of the key as Bueckers went under a screen midway through the third to cut the Dallas lead to 59-57.
Ogunbowale and Bueckers combined to score 23 of the Wings’ 36 points in the third quarter as Dallas took a 76-69 advantage into the fourth.
They stayed at it to open the fourth, combining for Dallas’ first seven points, as the Wings extended their lead to double digits, 83-73, for the first time all night on Bueckers’ third 3-pointer of the game, with 8:05 left to play.
Siegrist’s first-half impact
Maddy Siegrist has gotten hot from the perimeter in the last two games after finding herself toward the end of head coach Jose Fernandez’ rotation in recent games. She may be in line for a few more minutes after another solid showing against the Fire. Siegrist’s shooting is a weapon, especially on nights when the rest of the roster gets out of the gates slowly.
She shot 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from 3-point range for 13 points, but still only saw 11 minutes in a one-point loss on Monday. It was a head-scratcher to say the least. She hit a couple in her first eight minutes of the bench again on Wednesday, and these are stretches where room needs to be made in the rotation for the hot hand.
Siegrist’s minutes have been cut more than in half this season, down from more than 27 a year ago to 13.5 this season. She led the team with 10 points in just over 10 first-half minutes against the Fire, then took a backseat to Ogunbowale’s big third quarter. Her only points of the second half came from the free throw line with just .7 seconds remaining, as she iced the game for the Wings, 101-97.
Arike awakens
Ogunbowale is in the middle of perhaps her best stretch of the season. She came into Wednesday’s game having scored 17 or more in her last four and 20 or more in three of those. She scored 29 points in Monday’s loss to New York.
Ogunbowale took just two shots in the first half against the Fire, but came to life for the Wings in the third quarter, scorching the nets for 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. After connecting on those two early 3-pointers, Jessica Shepard found her for a cutting basket with 3:35 left in the third to give Dallas a 67-62 lead. The pair ran it back as Ogunbowale curled off a screen a minute later and Shepard found her for the forward’s eighth assist of the game to make it 69-64.
Ogunbowale kept the hot hand to start the fourth, scoring Dallas’ first four points of the final stanza. She stepped back for one of those patented late-shot-clock, bailout 3-pointers with 6:30 to play to give Dallas an 88-77 lead.
She led Dallas with 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the win and dished six assists in the win.
Late drama
After the Wings built a late 12-point lead, Portland stormed back with seven points in a span of just 40 seconds to pull within 91-88 on Karlie Samuelson’s second 3-pointer of the game. That came after Ogunbowale coughed it up on a bad pass in the backcourt to give the Fire the extra possession.
Shepard hit a pair of free throws to give the wings a five-point cushion with 2:20 to play, but Carleton was aggressive in getting to the bucket the next time down to cut it to 93-90.
Fudd, who hadn’t scored yet in the fourth, nailed her third 3-ball of the game the next time down, before Bueckers pump-faked Leite at the top of the key the next time down to make space for her fourth of the game. All of a sudden, the Wings’ lead was right back up to nine, 99-90, with 1:15 remaining.
But once again, Portland put together a 7-0 run in just 40 seconds to cut it back down to 99-97 with 32 ticks left. This time it was Shepard on the turnover in the backcourt, which led to an easy layup for Samuelson, right after DiLeo had scored seconds earlier.
Bueckers missed a pull-up jumper with 11 seconds left in the game, giving the Fire one more chance to tie or take the lead. Carleton called her own number on the other end, but Fudd put the clamps on her, forcing Carleton to take a turnaround from about 15 feet away that came off the rim with just .7 seconds left on the clock.
Siegrist iced the win with her first points of the second half at the free throw line, and the Wings went into the All-Star Break winners, 101-97. Bueckers scored 15 of her 21 points in the second half to go along with Ogunbowale’s 24, and Shepard completed her fourth triple-double of the year with her 10th assist of the game coming on Fudd’s clutch 3-pointer with 1:55 left to play. Shepard scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half and pulled down 15 rebounds in the win.
“I’m so happy I’m on her team,” Ogunbowale said of Shepard’s breakout season in 2026. Shepard and Bueckers will be starters in the All-Star game on Saturday, while Fudd, who finished with 11 against Portland, will be shooting in the 3-point contest over the weekend.
