Paige Bueckers shines with 24 points as Dallas Wings end season with 97-76 win over Mercury

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Paige Bueckers had 24 points, Amy Okonkwo and Aziaha James each added 20 points off the bench and the Dallas Wings ended their season with a 97-76 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday night.

Phoenix (27-17), which has lost three in a row, had already clinched the No. 4 seed in the WNBA playoffs and will face the No. 5 seed New York Liberty in the first round.

Satou Sabally led Phoenix with 14 points and Kalani Brown added 12. Third-leading scorer Alyssa Thomas played just 13 minutes.

Maddy Siegrist scored 10 points for Dallas (10-34). Myisha Hines-Allen grabbed 10 rebounds to go with seven points.

Bueckers topped Arike Ogunbowale for the top scoring average by a rookie in franchise history (19.2), while also moving into fifth in WNBA history for most 20-point games by a first-year player at 17.

Bueckers moved past Sue Bird (191 in 2002) for the second-most assists by a rookie in WNBA history. Bueckers also passed A’ja Wilson (682) for the third-most points by a rookie.

Phoenix started the game making 7 of 8 field goals to take a 20-6 lead following a 10-0 run. But the Wings made 8 of their final 12 shots in the frame to get within 28-25.

Bueckers scored 10 of her 15 first-half points in the final 2:30 to help Dallas build a 57-47 lead. The Wings outscored Phoenix 25-13 in the third quarter to take control at 82-60.

Dallas evened the season series with the Mercury at 2-2, with both teams defending their home courts.

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