ARLINGTON, TX — The Dallas Wings (10-6) toppled the Chicago Sky (4-11) 93-92 at College Park Center on Saturday, capping off an incredible 17-point fourth-quarter comeback with a legendary four-point play from Paige Beuckers and two free throws from backup center Li Yueru in the game’s final seconds.

It was sheer pandemonium in Downtown Arlington for the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, as the Wings chipped away at the Sky’s lead methodically in a run that looked like it would come up short with less than 90 seconds left to play.

“We kept battling. Good teams find a way to win, right?” Wings head coach Jose Fernandez said. “Down the stretch, we hit some big shots. We were good coming out of timeouts, executing. Today, you learn a lot from a win like this, on the fight and battling back.”

A pair of early 3-pointers from Arike Ogunbowale and Awak Kuier bailed out the wobbly Dallas offense to start the game. Paige Bueckers threw the ball away, and Jessica Shepard lost the handle while trying to establish a post move as the Sky built an early 11-6 lead through their size advantage inside.

Kamila Cardoso scored her second bucket of the game through the foul of Azzi Fudd just 3:43 into the game, and completed the three-point play to extend the Sky’s lead to 14-6. Her third bucket came on an offensive board the next time down. She was a one-woman size advantage for Chicago — neither Shepard nor Kuier could keep her off the glass or keep her from scoring when she got the ball in close.

Alanna Smith came in and forced Cardoso into her second foul of the first quarter with 4:20 left in the opener, but the Sky just continued to outwork the Wings on their offensive end. Rookie forward Gabriela Jaquez scored on back-to-back drives to the bucket to increase the Chicago lead to 25-13 late, while Bueckers had trouble finding a rhythm on the perimeter. she missed her first three attempts from the field, but continued to find the open shooter, including a devious little behind-the-back look to a wide open Smith for her first 3-point connection of the game, which pulled Dallas to within 25-16 with just over a minute left in the first. The Sky took a 28-16 advantage into the second.

The Wings started to come out of the offensive funk late in the first, and it carried over to the first possession of the second quarter, when Maddy Siegrist pump faked at the top of the key to free herself up for an open 3-ball. She drove through the teeth of the Chicago defense, aided by a tough screen from Aziaha James, two possessions later for a bucket that made it 28-21 and forced Sky head coach Tyler Marsh into a timeout.

As Cardoso continued to bullrush through any and all Wings defenders, head coach Jose Fernandez inserted the seldom-used Li Yueru into the game midway through the second. She cleaned up a couple of boards and scored on a putback with 3:43 left in the half to pull Dallas within one, down just 32-31.

Natasha Cloud got past Bueckers with a quick first step as the final seconds ticked off the clock in the second quarter and scored an easy bucket to put Chicago up 43-38 at the break. Cardoso led all scorers with 14 points at halftime.

With Smith on the bench injured (see below) and Kuier saddled with four fouls early in the third quarter, Cardoso and the Sky would get a heavy dose of Shepard and Yueru the rest of the way. But about midway through the third, it was the Wings’ backcourt that got put on tilt.

Ogunbowale was whistled for a technical foul away from the play after Sug Sutton was called for a foul on Cloud’s drive with 5:31 left in the third. That led to three free throws for Chicago and a 56-46 lead. Sydney Taylor scored through a Bueckers foul the next time down and completed the three-point play to put the Sky up 59-46.

She does impossible things

After struggling through an 0-for-3 start, Bueckers hit an impossible baseline fadeaway for her first bucket, with 7:07 left before halftime. Jaquez was glued to her, but Bueckers pumped, leaned in, absorbed the contact and threw up a prayer from nearly behind the backboard to get off the schnide and cut the Sky lead to 28-24. The next time down, she found Siegrist alone again at the top of the key with a smooth behind-the-back assist for a 3-pointer that made it 30-27.

Even when she’s not scoring, she’s making things happen for this team. Bueckers finished the first half with seven points on just 2-of-9 shooting and five assists.

But Bueckers saved her biggest moment for the game’s final seconds. With the Wings down five and just 36 seconds left on the clock, she came off a screen with fury in her eyes, curling to meet the ball near the top of the key. She hit a leaning 3-pointer, her first of the game, and Cloud didn’t give her space to land. She knocked down the ensuing free throw to cut it to a one-point deficit, 92-91, blowing the lid of College Park Center to bring the Wings back from the dead. Yueru would complete the comeback with a forced turnover on an inbounds play and two free throws to give the Wings their first and only lead of the game.

“[Yueru] set me a great screen, and I saw a little bit of daylight,” Bueckers said. “I knew it had to go up, so just having that confidence after my teammates did a great job of getting me open, and just trying to knock it down.”

The confidence reserves are always there — even on a night when Bueckers was 0-of-4 from 3-point range to that point.

Alanna Smith keeps getting hit in the face

As Fernandez said in his postgame comments after the Wings beat the defending WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces last week, “[Smith] can’t catch a break. She had a doctor’s appointment tonight [after the game] to see her progress to getting that thing off, and then she gets hit again tonight. … Once she gets that thing off, I think she’s going to be a totally different basketball player.”

Can’t catch a break is right. Smith got whacked in the head again in the first quarter against the Sky and did not return to the game, after being cleared to play in the pregame. She came in with an illness but left with an aggravation of the facial injury that has forced her to wear the mask throughout the first 16 games of the year. It happened on the play where Smith picked up her second foul on Cloud’s drive to the hoop with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.

Smith was the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year last season but has not been able to find her rhythm on either end of the floor for extended stretches as she’s been clearly hampered by the mask.

Will we see this “totally different basketball player” this season?

Things fall apart in the third

Without Smith and Kuier, who was called for her fourth foul early in the third, the Wings had even fewer answers for Cardoso inside as the second half started. Then, Cloud and Skylar Diggins began to get whatever they wanted against the Wings guards.

Dallas scored just 15 points in the first nine-plus minutes of the third quarter, as both Siegrist and Fudd missed easy looks inside along the way. James came in and hit a couple buckets in the last minute of the third, but that was after Dallas had already fallen behind 69-53. Cloud hit her second 3-pointer of the game with just under two minutes left in the third quarter as the Sky outscored the Wings 26-15 to end the frame.

Chicago, which had managed just four wins to this point on the season, took a 71-57 lead into the fourth quarter.

For too long in Saturday’s game, the Wings took a beating from Cardoso on one end and didn’t do anything to make her uncomfortable on the other. Finally, with just over eight minutes left to play, they got Cardoso out on the perimeter guarding Shepard. The screen came, Shepard drove to the hoop and scored through the foul of Azura Stevens and completed the three-point play to pull the Wings to within 10, down 74-64.

Shepard drove again the next time down for a bucket that made it 76-66. Playing through Shepard with Cardoso as primary defender became the whole game plan, and not a moment too soon for Dallas. With the Sky defense temporarily discombobulated, Ogunbowale nailed her second 3-ball of the game the next time down to cut the Sky lead to seven, 76-69, and force a Chicago timeout.

Fudd took it to the rack off a screen from Shepard the next time down to cut it to a five-point deficit, then canned her second 3-pointer with 5:50 left to play to make it 78-74. Taylor responded with an open 3-ball of her own from the right corner, and the Wings would have to climb back from down seven with five minutes to play.

After Yueru and Ogunbowale split trips to the free-throw line, Shepard made the biggest play of the game for the Wings with 3:49 remaining. She took the ball on an errant foul from Taylor, then went the length of the floor for a big transition hoop that cut the Sky lead to 81-78. Two free throws from Shepard the next time down, then a Bueckers run-out lay-in with 2:26 left to play made it 83-82.

If the Wings could string together a couple of stops, they could complete the comeback, because they had all the juice on the offensive end.

Bueckers’ next cutting hoop tied the game, 84-84, on an assist from Shepard. Then, she took over the next possession, breaking her defender down for the hoop that gave her 15 points and tied the game at 86-86. Taylor’s 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:26 to play looked like it was going to be the nail in the Wings’ coffin.

But this Wings team just wouldn’t be denied, because Bueckers refused to say die. With the Wings down six, 92-86, Fudd went to the line for one after an off-ball foul before an inbound play, and cut the lead to five.

Yueru set a huge ball screen for Bueckers as the Wings took the ball after the free throw, and Bueckers came off it with a determination that Cloud had no answer for. It was a five-point trip down the floor when the Wings needed all five of them to even have a chance.

On an inbound play near halfcourt just one seconds later, Yueru forced Cardoso into an over-and-back turnover to get the ball back for Dallas. Then, Yueru drew a foul against Cardoso as she got a short jumper up with 13 seconds left. She calmly knocked both of them down to give Dallas a 93-92 lead, its only lead of the night.

“It was her moment,” Fernandez said. “Her minutes were huge. We were down. Alanna Smith gets hurt — she’s still being evaluated. [Kuier] fouls out. We needed her to play big, and she stepped up.”

Dallas’ 36 points in the fourth quarter on Saturday were the most they’ve scored in any frame this year, and more than they’ve scored in any quarter since late August of 2024. The 17-point deficit the Wings came back from in the fourth marks the third-biggest fourth-quarter comeback in franchise history. Bueckers finished with 19 points, eight assists and seven boards in the win, while Shepard poured in 21 and eight. Cardoso led the Sky with 26 points and nine boards in the loss.