ARLINGTON
The Dallas Wings haven’t lost a game since late June and Paige Bueckers has been a major reason why.
The second-year player continued her all-star season in the Wings 90-82 win over the Los Angeles Sparks, scoring 25 points with five assists and four rebounds.
However, her play was overshadowed by Bueckers went down with an injury with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter after Nneka Ogwumike drove into her chest, knocking Bueckers to the floor. She walked off the court with some assistance, while also holding her head, and went straight to the locker room.
Bueckers did not return to the bench or the floor in the game.
The Wings have two games remaining on their schedule, against the New York Liberty and the Portland Tempo, before the all-star break if Bueckers does have to miss time due to injury.
Any time missed due by Bueckers would be a blow to Dallas; over the Wings five-game winning streak Bueckers has averaged 23.6 points with 7.4 assists and 5.8 rebounds and was awarded the WNBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week for the games played between the June 2-12.
She has been especially potent in the fourth quarter.
Among players who have played at least five games this month Bueckers is tied with Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark with the league lead averaging 7.8 points and no player in the top five has a higher shooting percentage than Buecker’s 68%.
The Wings offense is one of the WNBA’s best, ranking in the top five in the league in assists (2nd), turnovers (1st), points (4th) and field goal percentage (4th).
The other star for the Wings this season has been Jessica Shepard who earned her first all-star selection this season and has been one of the WNBA’s best signings of the offseason averaging 15.0 points, 11.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists, second most among all forward and centers.
Shepard’s passing from the forward position has been huge in opening up the offense, and she showcased that in the Wings win over the Sparks flirting with a triple double, scoring 11 points with 14 rebounds and six assists.
Shepard had one triple-double in her career before joining the Wings and has tripled her career total before this year’s all-star break and now sits second all-time in WNBA history for the most triple-doubles, trailing only Alyssa Thomas’s 19.
The Wings recent win streak has propelled the team to fourth-best record in the WNBA and the team will benefit from the third-easiest strength of the schedule in the league for the remainder of the season.
Of the other teams in the top five the Minnesota Lynx have the fifth-hardest schedule, the Las Vegas Aces have the fourth easiest, The Golden State Valkyries the second-easiest and the Indiana Fever the sixth-toughest.
The Wings schedule presents a great opportunity for the Wings, who have feasted on inferior opponents this season going 10-1 against team’s with records below .500, while going 7-7 versus teams .500 or better.
The Wings will next play the Liberty at 7 p.m. on Monday at College Park Center in Arlington.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Lawrence Dow is a digital sports reporter from Philadelphia. He graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from USC. He’s passionate about movies and is always looking for a great book. He covers the Texas Rangers and other sports.