What a game to open the Dallas Wings’ 2026 season after two years wandering through the WNBA wilderness.
The Wings (1-0) held off a hard-charging second-half comeback attempt from the Indiana Fever (0-1) at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, 107-104. Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, Paige Bueckers added 20 on an efficient 8-of-10 outing, and Odyssey Sims chipped in 20, including a tough bucket late over Caitlin Clark to help seal the deal in the season-opening win
in Jose Fernandez’ first game as the team’s head coach.
“Jose, he does really well with X’s and O’s, and you don’t have to take the tough shot — there’s always someone to kick it to,” Ogunbowale said in a televised postgame interview. “We dug in. We’re happy with the win. It’s a blessing to be out here.”
Bueckers connected on her first shot of the game, a 3-pointer from the top of the key off an offensive rebound from offseason acquisition Alanna Smith that gave the Wings an early 3-0 lead. Arike Ogunbowale scored on a post move inside to put Dallas ahead 5-4 before she found Odyssey Sims on a kickout along the right wing for her first 3-pointer in a Wings’ uniform with 7:20 left in the first.
Sims, who played the latter part of the 2025 season in a Fever uniform, hit another from the same spot a minute later to give the Wings a 13-10 lead, but Dallas’ defense failed to protect the paint and prevent the Fever from driving at will to stay level in the early going. Kelsey Mitchell, a first-team All-WNBA selection a year ago, carved Dallas up throughout the first, scoring eight points in the game’s first 5:30. Mitchell led all scorers with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first quarter.
Azzi Fudd checked into the game with just under four minutes remaining in the first quarter. She knocked away a bad pass on defense for her first WNBA steal just seconds later. But it was Maddy Siegrist who came in off the bench and made the biggest initial impact for the Wings’ second unit. She scored seven points in her first four minutes on the floor in the first as Dallas escaped some tough assignments on defense with a 27-25 lead at the end of one.
Aziaha James missed a couple of driving attempts she’d like to have back to start the second, before Fever forward Sophie Cunningham nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner to put Indiana in front 28-27. Aliyah Boston scored the next five Fever points to give Indiana a 33-29 lead before Fudd showed off the quick release that first-year Wings head coach Jose Fernandez has continuously praised her for on her first 3-pointer in the WNBA to bring the Wings to within one. Arike Ogunbowale stepped back for her first 3-ball of the game, and Bueckers pulled up in front of Boston to tie the game, 37-37, with six minutes to play before halftime.
The first half was an all-out aerial assault on both ends. Neither defense could deal with the playmaking and offensive firepower these teams brought with them to do battle in the first game of the season. It was compelling and rich — a hell of a watch. Saturday’s bout between Dallas and Indiana was the kind of electrifying game the WNBA needs to prove the explosive growth of the league in recent years is not manufactured, but real.
Dallas shot a sweltering 10-of-16 from 3-point land in the first half and extended their lead to 60-51 going into the break with a late 10-1 run in the second quarter. Ogunbowale, Sims, and James, who knocked down both of hers during that run, combined to shoot 6-of-9 from deep in the first half.
Caitlin Clark had a somewhat subdued first half, scoring eight points and dishing three assists, but she hit her first two 3-point attempts of the second half early in the third to bring the Fever back to within three points, down 60-57 just two minutes into the period. She found former Wing Myisha Hines-Allen two possessions later with a nifty behind-the-back pass for an easy bucket inside to bring Indiana to within 64-59 after two buckets from Sims for the Wings.
Bueckers answered the flurry from Clark by forcing her way to the rack one-on-one against Clark for a three-point play to push the Wings’ lead to 67-59 with 6:20 left in the third. But the Fever would not be denied, tying the game, 67-67, on Makayka Timpson’s bucket inside from Mitchell with 4:49 left in the third. Bueckers was there with the answer for the Wings once again, bullying her way to the basket against Cunningham the next time down to put Dallas back in front.
Awak Kuier got into the action for the Wings in the third as well. She stole the ball from Fever rookie Raven Johnson and fed Sims for a running score and a three-point play in transition to put Dallas ahead 73-69 with just over three minutes left in the frame.
The Fever put the Wings on the ropes throughout the third quarter, though, battling back to an 80-80 tie entering the fourth. Clark’s spinning bucket before the third-quarter horn gave her 1,000 career points in the WNBA.
After Boston took it to Wings’ backup center Li Yueru to start the fourth and give Indiana an 82-80 lead, James knocked down her third 3-pointer of the game and was fouled by Mitchell in the process, completing the rare four-point play to put the Wings back in front, 84-82. Ogunbowale converted in transition after Smith’s second steal of the game to put Dallas up 86-82 and force a Fever timeout with nine minutes to play and Clark on the training table in the tunnel getting work on something in her back or leg.
Bueckers scored her 17th and 18th points on a behind-the-back move through the lane with 7:55 left in the game to put Dallas up 82-88, but Clark answered on the other end with a driving bucket of her own to keep Indiana in touch and get her to the 20-point mark. She looked like she was walking a little gingerly as play resumed with 7:11 showing on the clock.
Ogunbowale nailed her third 3-ball of the game from the left wing on a kickout from Smith with 6:41 left, putting her at 22 points and giving Dallas a 91-86 cushion. Jessica Shepard converted on a reverse layup underneath a minute later to keep the lead at five after yet another driving basket from Mitchell. With just over four minutes remaining, Shepard found Sims streaking to the bucket in transition to increase the lead to 97-90, but Mitchell hit her second 3-pointer of the game the next time down to cut the lead to 97-93.
After Mitchell scored on a 3-point play with under three minutes to play to cut it even further, to 99-97, Bueckers gave Boston a pump fake and a side-step for her first basket of the fourth quarter, giving Dallas a 101-97 advantage.
But after Boston earned a trip to the free throw line with 1:35 left to play, she took the ball from Buckers on the rebound after the second, scoring inside to make it a 101-100 game with 1:32 to play. Shepard took a five-second violation after the timeout, the second by the Wings in the game’s final four minutes of the game, as Dallas couldn’t get out of its own way all of a sudden.
But Bueckers found Smith waiting open underneath after Mitchell missed an open 3-point look on the other end, then Sims hit a tough leaner over Clark the next time down to give Dallas a two-possession lead, up 105-100, with 37 seconds to play.
The Fever cut it to 106-104 on a Timpson lay-in with 17 ticks left on the clock, and Sims hit 1-of-2 from the free-throw line to make her the sixth 10-point scorer of the game just four seconds later. Clark missed a 30-footer to tie it before Bueckers missed a pair at the line with 1.3 seconds left to play, giving the Fever one last gasp after a timeout to advance the ball.
But Mitchell missed a clean look on a 26-footer as time expired, and the Wings held on despite all the mistakes late in the game. She led all scorers with 30 points in the loss, while Boston added 23 and Clark chipped in 20 more.
