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ARLINGTON, TX — The Dallas Wings upset the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night, earning a 94-76 victory. Dallas was fresh off a win over the Las Vegas Aces, but Friday's game presented another challenge with the first place Lynx in town. The Wings were able to keep things interesting throughout the contest before getting the job done in front of their home fans in the end. They have now won three consecutive games.
The Wings pulled away in the second half after trailing 40-39 at halftime. Dallas had a quick start in the third quarter and never looked back.
Arike Ogunbowale leads the way
Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 25 points in the victory. Ogunbowale added eight assists and four rebounds. She is now averaging 26 points and seven assists per outing across her last three games, per I Talk Hoops on X, formerly Twitter.
Ogunbowale has been impressed with the Wings ability to find success while dealing with adversity, as Dallas endured a difficult start to the 2024 season amid injury trouble.
“This is what we envisioned before all the injuries,” Ogunbowale said. “All the injuries happened, we probably should have won more games. But now we're at the full roster that we thought we would have. Now we have it rolling… We've seen every type of game in the first half. Been up, been down, been getting blown out, just all types of things. So I think now in the second half we're really ready for anything even if we're down. And we've been down in games and came back… We're seeing all types of games and we've been able to adapt.”
Satou Sabally added 18 points while Natasha Howard scored 17. Teaira McCowan turned in a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Dallas utilized a balanced effort on Friday. Their defense caused 16 Lynx turnovers. There was one element of the game that ultimately told the story, however.
Wings dominate in the paint
The Wings out-scored the Lynx 50-20 in points in the paint. Dallas was seemingly getting anything they wanted near the basket. The Lynx feature one of the best defenses in the WNBA so Dallas expected to face more of a challenge in that regard. Nevertheless, they were clearly prepared for what Minnesota had to offer.
“I think it started with the defense,” Ogunbowale said. “The steals, she (Sevgi Uzun) had four steals. We got out in transition. I think (Natasha Howard) had three… Our defense was really good, but we were getting out and running. We were running them off the three-point line which is good, but then we were there for help… When we're on a string like that it looks really good and then we get stops and we can run.”
The Wings also utilized the aforementioned 16 turnovers they caused. Dallas had 25 points off turnovers while the Lynx only had five. It should be noted that the Wings turned the ball over just 10 times in the game.
The Wings have had a difficult schedule in recent action but they have not backed down from the challenge. Things will not get any easier on Sunday against an Indiana Fever team that is playing quite well at the moment.
