ARLINGTON, TX — The Dallas Wings (2-2) responded to some early-season adversity on Monday with a thorough drubbing of the Washington Mystics (2-2), 92-69, at College Park Center. Paige Bueckers scored 13 of her 18 points in the second half and Azzi Fudd chipped in 12 off the bench of a well-rounded offensive tutorial highlighted by some truly spectacular defensive moments as well. Thirty of the Wings’ 33 baskets were assisted in the win.
Fudd and Awak Kuier provided a big boost off the bench after
a slow start from both teams. Fudd curled off a screen and played the two-man game with Paige Bueckers to perfection after checking in with four minutes left in the first, raising up for a pull-up jumper to put the Wings up 10-5. Then Kuier finished in transition the next time down through contact from Mystics guard Cotie McMahon, and her three-point play made it 13-5. Kuier gathered her second steal of the first quarter on the other end, which led to an open 3-pointer for Arike Ogunbowale and a 16-5 Wings’ lead with 3:15 left in the frame.
Maddy Siegrist’s first 3-pointer of the game came a minute and a half later and extended the Dallas advantage to 12, up 19-7 as the Wings connected on two of their first three attempts from deep. The Wings held the Mystics to 2-of-10 shooting from the field and forced eight turnovers in the first, taking a 19-9 lead after one.
Paige Bueckers took an elbow to the grill while face-guarding Washington guard Sonia Citron early in the second, giving the 2025 runner-up for WNBA Rookie of the Year two early fouls. Alanna Smith, the Wings’ best starting big, found herself in even deeper foul trouble later in the quarter, picking up her fourth on an illegal screen with 3:30 left in the half.
But the Wings continued to manufacture good shots in the half-court offense and kept the pressure up on the defensive end to keep their noses in front. Bueckers hit just her second shot of the game with 2:15 left in the second quarter, a 3-pointer from the right wing that extended the Dallas lead to 34-25. Azzi Fudd freed herself up with one dribble and a pull-up jumper the next time down to keep the lead at nine.
Kuier caused the Mystics’ 13th turnover of the first half the next time down, and dished a transition assist to Siegrist on the ensuing break to make it a 38-27 game. The Wings went into the locker room with a 38-29 advantage.
The Wings only surrendered two Mystics 3-pointers in the entire first half, but Citron squeezed trhrough a double-team and rose up for the team’s third just a minute into the third quarter. Bueckers and Ogunbowale answered with jumpers for Dallas on the other end, but Kuier was the constant on the defensive end. The 6-foot-6 backup blocked a driving attempt by Kiki Iriafen along the way to go along with her three first-half steals.
While the Washington defense focused on getting the ball out of Bueckers’ hands, Ogunbowale and Fudd began to assert themselves on offense in the third. After Fudd’s nifty leaner late in the shot clock and a successful trip to the free-throw line for Ogunbowale, Jessica Shepard scored a spinning bucket inside through the defense of Angela Dugalic to give the Wings a 55-43 lead with just under three minutes to play in the frame. Fudd drove through the teeth of the Mystics’ defense a minute later to put the Wings ahead 59-45 and give Fudd the first double-digit scoring night of her young career.
Dallas took its largest lead of the game, 66-46, into the fourth quarter. The Wings outscored the Mystics 24-10 over the last seven minutes of the third despite two 3-pointers from Citron in the frame. Bueckers nailed her second 3-ball of the game just a second before the third-quarter buzzer sounded to put the Wings up 20.
Fudd found Bueckers with a nifty pass along the baseline for another fading 3-pointer early in the fourth. That one gave the Wings a 25-point cushion, up 73-48 with 7:15 to play. On a night when the opposing defense did everything it could to stop Bueckers, she still made 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and dished seven assists in the win.
Fudd scored on another jumper a minute and change later to give the Wings a 75-51 lead. To that point, Bueckers and Fudd had combined to shoot 11-of-18 from the field. The scoring came from everywhere on the roster on Monday. The ball moved where it needed to go, and the defense did the rest.
Bueckers drove and dished to a cutting Kuier midway through the fourth for her sixth dime, before the pair played the pick-and-roll to perfection less than a minute later to put Dallas ahead 79-56. Kuier returned the favor the next time down, finding Bueckers open on the right wing for Bueckers’ fourth 3-ball of the game to put the game all the way out of reach.
Ogunbowale finished with 16 points in the win, one of five Wings in double figures. Shakira Austin led the Mystics with 12 in the loss.
