ARLINGTON — The Dallas Wings made no transactions on an uneventful WNBA trade deadline day across the league, but they did snap a two-game losing streak on Sunday night at College Park Center.
Their 83-63 win against the visiting Connecticut Sun (7–23) was much-needed for a Dallas (19–11) team that stumbled out of the All-Star break and hopes to make a playoff push.
Dallas struggled to contain opposing bigs in both matchups and have had trouble in the paint throughout the season. Many commentators wondered if the Wings would make a trade to fix some of those issues, but Dallas stuck with its existing personnel.
That unit held Connecticut to its third-lowest point total of the season and out-rebounded the Sun 44-43. Dallas had 31 defensive boards.
“I think we did a good job of playing together on the defensive end and making sure that we were packing the paint, making shots hard for them as a unit,” forward Jessica Shepard said postgame.
Three Wings players — Azzi Fudd, Arike Ogunbowale and Shepard — scored in double figures. Ogunbowale recorded a team-high 15 points on 7 of 9 shooting, adding five rebounds, five assists and a steal.
“She was 7 for 9 — that’s pretty good efficiency,” Wings coach Jose Fernandez said of Ogunbowale. “I don’t think a lot of people are giving Arike the credit that she deserves on the type of year that she’s having.”
Dallas outscored Connecticut 24-8 in the third quarter and rested its starters for much of the fourth. Forward Alanna Smith, the reigning co-defensive player of the year who has struggled with injuries for much of the season, re-entered the starting lineup.
Smith struggled to finish around the rim, but she hit an early three and had two blocks in the first quarter. All-Star guard Paige Bueckers also had a quieter night, finishing with six points, four assists and three rebounds before leaving the game in the fourth.
Brittney Griner and Aaliyah Edwards, key frontcourt players for the Sun, did not play Sunday, and Connecticut recently traded standout forward Aneesha Morrow to the Toronto Tempo.
With another game against Washington on Wednesday, the Wings’ starters will need to be at their best and improvement on defense will be crucial.
“They were a little depleted in that frontline,” Fernandez said.“It will be different than what we’re going to see against Washington, or what we saw against Atlanta, or what you would see against New York.”