Recent history has shown us that you don’t want to miss when Dallas Wings (7-3) clash with the Los Angeles Sparks (4-6) at Crypto.com Arena. Arike Ogunbowale hit all the 3-pointers, Jessica Shepard gobbled up all the rebounds and Paige Bueckers dished all the dimes on Friday as the Wings escaped Los Angeles with a 104-96 win over the Sparks.
Ogunbowale’s six 3-pointers and 30 points led Dallas, but Shepard stuffed the stat sheet as well with 22 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in the win. Bueckers
tied a franchise record with 14 assists and scored 18 points of her own. Both teams put five scorers in double figures as another barn-burner took shape late between Dallas and LA. Kelsey Plum led Los Angeles with 27 points and six assists in the loss.
“We’re fighters,” Bueckers said in her televised postgame interview. “We’re just trying to stay together through it all.”
Plum led the Sparks to an early lead with nine points in the first quarter, but Ogunbowale carried an any-time, any-spot mentality with her on the offensive end to keep the Wings in it. Ogunbowale made the second of her two first-quarter 3-pointers with 2:40 left in the first to pull Dallas to within 22-18, then pulled up just inside the 3-point line a minute later for her third score of the frame to tie the game, 22-22.
The Dallas defense that held the Seattle Storm to 56 points in Monday’s win was nowhere to be found early on against the Sparks, as Los Angeles took a 28-24 lead after one. The Sparks shot 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in that first quarter.
Ariel Atkins, whose schnoz absorbed a blow from Bueckers’ elbow late in the first quarter, cashed in her second 3-ball of the game for the Sparks on the first possession of the second. Ogunbowale and Jessica Shepard helped the Wings stay connected throughout the second quarter, as Shepard scored on a 3-point play inside midway through the quarter to bring Dallas to within 44-41, before Ogunbowale’s third triple of the game pulled the Wings in front, 48-46, with 3:18 left in the half.
But Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby scored the game’s next five points to see-saw the game back in the Sparks’ favor. Los Angeles took a 55-54 lead into halftime when Bueckers’ last-second baseline jumper was ruled still on her hand as time expired.
Ogunbowale hit two more 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the third, each of which pulled the Wings back in front of the Sparks as the game turned on every possession. Her fifth came from the left corner on a transition assist from Shepard with 4:51 left in the quarter. Dallas led 67-66 at the time, as the lead changed hands eight times in the frame.
Then you looked up and Shepard was having another one of those Jessica Shepard games. After three quarters, she had piled up 17 points and 13 rebounds — seven of them on the offensive end. Yet Los Angeles still carried the slimmest of leads, 78-77, into the fourth.
Maddy Siegrist canned a 3-pointer from the left wing with 6:30 left to play on Bueckers’ 14th assist, which tied a Wings’ franchise record for helpers in a single game. That gave the Wings their biggest lead of the game, 88-84, before Aziaha James scored the next time down as part of a 9-0 Dallas run.
Siegrist hit her second 3-ball of the fourth quarter with just under three minutes to play, on a kick-out from Shepard, to extend the Wings’ lead back to six, 97-91. You cannot oversell how important all eight of her fourth-quarter points were in the win over the Sparks.
Sims, James injured
Odyssey Sims, who began the season as the Wings’ starting point guard, came into the game to start the second quarter on Friday. Her first touch came in transition, as she sprinted with the ball through an unassuming Sparks defense. She pulled up for a little runner in the lane and came down on Cameron Brink’s foot, rolling her right ankle in the process.
Sims was carted off the court on a wheelchair after play stopped with the Wings facing a 4-on-5 defensive possession. She started her third go-round with the Wings this season, previously playing with Dallas in the 2016 season and again in 2023 and part of the 2024 season. Sims played 18.4 minutes per game across the Wings’ first nine games this year.
James collided with Ogwumike with just over three minutes to play and fell to the floor in a heap. Atkins hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game to cut the Wings’ lead to 94-91 as James was on the floor. James had to be carried off the floor with what appeared to be a leg injury as the Wings held on tight to their slim lead late.
Paige vs. Plum
Bueckers and Plum’s friendship off the court is well-documented, and their rivalry on the court is quickly becoming a Western Conference staple each time these two teams do battle. Last year in Los Angeles, Bueckers put up 44 points, but Plum got the last laugh, hitting a buzzer-beating leaner in the lane to pull out an 81-80 win.
Less than a week before that game last August, Plum scored 28 and Bueckers had 29 in another thriller that went the Sparks’ way.
This time around, you’d have to score the first half in Plum’s favor, despite Bueckers’ game-high nine assists to that point. Plum led the Sparks with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting at the break, while Bueckers took what the LA defense gave her, for just five first-half points.
Bueckers and Plum traded buckets early in the third before Bueckers tied and set a new career-high mark in assists in a game. She found Ogunbowale for her fourth 3-pointer of the game with 6:50 left in the third, which briefly put Dallas back in front, 61-60.
Bueckers’ first 3-pointer of the game came late in the third quarter and tied the game, 75-75, on a nice find from Shepard. Bueckers has 12 points and 13 helpers headed to the fourth quarter, while the Wings defense held Plum in check a little better in the third. She carried 17 points and a one-point lead into the fourth.
Plum got past Ogunbowale on a tough drive for a three-point play with 7:43 remaining, pulling LA back in front, 84-83. With the Wings nursing a 92-86 lead and just over four minutes left to play, Bueckers called for the ball in the high post and scored over Plum, before Plum answered on the other end to make it 94-88 Dallas with 3:45 to play.
Vintage Arike, modern Jess
Friday’s game was vintage Ogunbowale. She canned three from deep in the first half on her way to a game high 17 points, but also dished six assists in the first half. Azzi Fudd was a force on both ends in the first half, chipping in nine points with two steals on defense. Shepard scored nine of her 13 first-half points in the second quarter.
The first half gave you the feeling that the Wings’ depth could eventually wear on the Sparks. If Bueckers could see a couple go down on offense, the dam would eventually break.
But Ogunbowale and Shepard turned the tide down the stretch, while Bueckers made some timely plays of her own. Ogunbowale set a new season-high scoring mark with the second of three triples in the third quarter. Then Shepard pulled the Wings back in front, 81-79, with a three-point play following her eighth offensive board a minute into the fourth quarter. Two minutes later, Shepard grabbed the lead back for Dallas with a bailout mid-range jumper late in the shot clock.
