DHJ Quick Take: Arike Ogunbowale Praises the Wings\u2019 Ball Movement<\/p>\n
Arike Ogunbowale credited selfless ball movement after the Dallas Wings recorded 30 assists in a 96-66 win over the Las Vegas Aces.<\/p>\n
What did Arike Ogunbowale say about the Wings\u2019 offense? She said Dallas passed up good shots to get great ones and played selflessly.<\/p>\n
How many assists did the Wings record? Dallas finished with 30 assists, including 18 on its first 20 baskets.<\/p>\n
How many Wings had multiple assists? Three players handed out 7 or more, the second time in franchise history.<\/p>\n
How well did Dallas shoot? The Wings shot better than 70% in the first half.<\/p>\n
ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 The Dallas Wings<\/a> turned a sharp passing night into a 96-66 win over the Las Vegas Aces<\/a> on Monday at College Park Center, and <\/a>Arike Ogunbowale<\/a> traced the 30-assist effort to a willingness to give up good looks for better ones.<\/p>\n \u201cJust finding the open man,\u201d Ogunbowale said. \u201cWe had good shots, but we were passing them up to get great shots.\u201d<\/p>\n The ball moved from the opening tip. Dallas shot 62.5% in the first quarter and led 29-20, then strung together four straight 3-pointers in a 17-0 run that stretched the lead to 26 at 52-26 in the second. The Wings carried a 56-37 advantage into halftime and pushed the lead as high as 30.<\/p>\n Arike Ogunbowale on Sharing the Ball<\/p>\n Much of the offense started at the other end. Dallas turned 14 Las Vegas turnovers into 18 points and outscored the Aces 12-5 on fast-break points, beating the defense down the floor before it could set.<\/p>\n Ogunbowale said the two ends fed each other through constant communication.<\/p>\n \u201cDefensively, we were talking and scrambling. If we needed somebody to help after a switch and there was an X-out, we were talking,\u201d Ogunbowale said. \u201cOffensively, when Jess gets the ball, she\u2019s talking to us, telling us to run the lanes and where to go. We were really on the same page today.\u201d<\/p>\n Head coach Jose Fernandez pointed to those early stops as the engine for the break.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we got a lot of what we wanted in transition,\u201d Fernandez said.<\/p>\n Ogunbowale finished with 22 points, 7 assists, and no turnovers, with the assist total matching a season high. She is averaging 15.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists on 34.6% shooting through 14 games this season.<\/p>\n She added that the approach worked since there was an unselfish mentality across the offense. The goal is to trust everyone on the floor to make a play when the ball comes their way, and it paid off.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the players that we have, you\u2019re probably going to knock it down,\u201d Ogunbowale said. \u201cIt was about sharing the ball, making the extra pass, and trusting that if you gave it up, it might come back to you or your teammate would knock it down. Just being really selfless.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas Wings Pile Up 30 Assists<\/p>\n Dallas assisted on 18 of its first 20 baskets and shot better than 70% in the first half. The Wings finished with 30 assists, and <\/a>Paige Bueckers<\/a> and <\/a>Jessica Shepard<\/a> joined Ogunbowale with 7 or more, just the second time in franchise history that three Wings reached that mark.<\/p>\n Five Wings scored in double figures, led by Ogunbowale\u2019s 22 points. Azzi Fudd<\/a> added 19, Shepard finished with 15, and Bueckers and Aziaha James<\/a> scored 10 apiece.<\/p>\n Fernandez said the ball movement came down to one habit that he termed \u201cone more.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk about it all the time: one more,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cGoing from a good shot to a great shot. I thought we did that today. The way that we space the floor, we should find open shots, not contested ones.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s Next<\/p>\n Dallas closes Commissioner\u2019s Cup play Wednesday at the Golden State Valkyries, with tip-off set for 9 p.m. CT at Chase Center. Both teams enter at 9-5, and the game airs locally on KFAA and streams on WNBA League Pass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DHJ Quick Take: Arike Ogunbowale Praises the Wings\u2019 Ball Movement Arike Ogunbowale credited selfless ball movement after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-710502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710502","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=710502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}