{"id":332004,"date":"2025-12-05T12:30:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/332004\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T12:30:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:30:24","slug":"unreal-paige-bueckers-sets-wnba-rookie-scoring-record-with-44-points-in-wings-loss-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/332004\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Unreal\u2019 Paige Bueckers sets WNBA rookie scoring record with 44 points in Wings loss | WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paige Bueckers put together not just one of the best shooting performances by a WNBA<\/a> rookie, but one of the best performances ever by any player.<\/p>\n

The top pick in this year\u2019s draft<\/a> scored 44 points in the Dallas Wings\u2019 81-80 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday night, the most points by a rookie in WNBA history and the most points in a game by any player this season.<\/p>\n

Bueckers sank 17 of 21 shots, including 4 of 4 from three-point range and 6 of 6 at the free-throw line to become the first player in league history with 40-plus points on 80% shooting from the floor. She also had four rebounds and three assists.<\/p>\n

The WNBA first-year player record of 44 was set by Cynthia Cooper in the inaugural season of the WNBA (1997), when all players were \u2018first year.\u2019 The true rookie record was held by Candace Parker who scored 40 points in 2008. The overall WNBA record<\/a> for points in a game is 53, a total achieved by Liz Cambage and A\u2019ja Wilson. Bueckers\u2019s 44 points puts her at No 10 on the all-time list.<\/p>\n

But it was a bittersweet performance for Bueckers, whose primary focus is on winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always prided myself and the team on winning so that\u2019s obviously the main goal,\u201d she said. \u201cHonestly, I think I\u2019m just most proud of this team, like, the way we fight. This team just means so much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bueckers, who scored Dallas\u2019 final 13 points, credited her teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust my teammates getting me open. Screening for me, running some off-ball actions, trying to get myself open looks,\u201d she said. \u201dJust bringing the ball up the floor. [Luisa Geiselsoder] set amazing screens for me the entire night and then my teammates just looking for me, getting me the ball, getting me open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bueckers\u2019 teammate Arike Ogunbowale, who did not play on Wednesday night, posted \u201cROY\u201d [Rookie of the Year] on X.<\/p>\n

Bueckers is 60 points shy of Ogunbowale\u2019s franchise rookie scoring record of 630 points, set in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnreal. honored to play with you,\u201d teammate Maddy Siegrist posted on X.<\/p>\n

Even the Sparks fans realized they were witnessing something special, cheering every Bueckers basket as she approached the record.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot specifically because people have gotten to see the struggle and people have gotten to see the injuries, and the ups and downs,\u201d said Bueckers, who struggled with injuries at UConn.<\/p>\n

Bueckers had a chance to seal the game with the ball in her hands with 30 seconds left on the clock and a one-point lead. The rookie guard drew two defenders near the three-point arc and unselfishly passed it to the corner for Aziaha James, whose three-point attempt hit off the back of the rim. Los Angeles got the ball to their veteran guard Kelsey Plum, who dribbled down the clock before driving into the lane past multiple defenders to bank in a runner at the buzzer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paige Bueckers put together not just one of the best shooting performances by a WNBA rookie, but one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-332004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}