Sure, they were shorthanded, but the Dallas Wings (20-16) put up little to no fight on Monday in a 78-70 loss to the Golden State Valkyries (25-9) at Chase Center. The Valkyries clinched a playoff spot with the win. Gabby Williams led all scorers with 23 points in the win, while Paige Bueckers scored 19 of her 21 in the second half of the loss.
They might not be in much danger of sinking much lower in the standings than they already are, but the Wings have regressed in the face of injuries and have wilted
against the league’s best teams this year.
The Wings started hot from the field but gave up the early lead on the final possession of the first quarter when Tiffany Hayes nailed a 3-pointer from 33 feet away as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Despite shooting 9-of-16 from the field in the first, Dallas trailed 20-19 heading into the second. Alanna Smith shot 4-of-5 from the field and led Dallas with nine points after one.
The Wings turned the ball over six times in the game’s first 13 minutes, including back-to-back throwaways with 6:30 left in the second in the face of some of the peskiest perimeter defense the Wings have seen all season. Then, midway through the second, Valerie Burton picked off an errant pass form Bueckers, then Alysha Clark threw it away on back-to-back possessions to fuel the Valkyries’ first-half momentum. When Cecilia Zandalasini pulled up for a contested perimeter jumper with 4:25 left in the first half, it extended Golden State’s run to 11-2 and its lead to 33-25. The ball movement and body movement that had resulted in that early 15-8 lead vanished.
Things went from precarious to downright futile as Burton connected on two more 3-pointers with less than two minutes left in the first half, to swell Golden State’s lead to 42-28. The Valkyries outscored the Wings from distance 24-6 in the first two quarters. The Wings went into halftime down 44-28 after laying an egg in the second.
Dallas showed some signs of life to start the third quarter, but Golden State is probably the hardest team in the league to come back on when facing a 16-point halftime deficit. After missing six straight to end the first half, Bueckers scored a pair of buckets early on in the third. But those were buckets the Wings traded with the Valkyries. You can’t be in the business of trading buckets when you’re pushing uphill against the best defensive team in the league.
Bueckers made her first 3-pointer of the game with 3:40 left in the third from halfway across The Bay to cut the Valkyries’ lead to 52-44, but Golden State came right back with an answer from Janelle Salaun a minute later to keep the Wings at arm’s length. Former Wing Kaila Charles was the only one home on a tip-in underneath with 1:10 left in the frame to put the Valkyries up 61-46, and the Wings were down 62-46 entering the fourth quarter.
After falling down by as many as 20 early in the fourth, the Wings cut the Golden State lead to 11, down 66-55 midway through the fourth after Alanna Smith’s steal and score in transition. But even in outscoring Golden State 28-12 down the stretch, Dallas wasn’t fooling anyone. It was too little, too late, and now the Wings have lost eight of their last 11 games.
Alysha Clark gets the start
With Jessica Shepard back in the lineup and still without Azzi Fudd (knee) and Aziaha James (leg), Alysha Clark got the spot start against the Valkyries. The rotation is thin at wing, and Clark can defend, so head coach Jose Fernandez looked to Clark instead of starting three bigs against an athletic Golden State bunch.
Clark got 6:30 of run in the first quarter with the starters before being replaced in the lineup by Awak Kuier with the Wings up 15-8. Golden State got hot late in the quarter, taking a 20-19 lead on Hayes’ first 3-ball of the game with just a second left in the first.
Clark grabbed three rebounds in the first quarter and finished the game with three points, four rebounds and three turnovers. She hit a 3-pointer on the Wings’ first possession of the second half to marginally improve the vibes, but the Wings just didn’t have the stomach for the fight in this one. You know the roster is strained when you have a player who averages just north of 10 minutes per game in the starting lineup.
Second-quarter hole
The hole the Wings dug themselves in the second quarter was one they just couldn’t dig their way out of. They scored nine points as a team on a pitiful 3-of-14 shooting and turned the ball over five times in the frame. They fed the Valkyries’ 16-3 run to end the half with those turnovers, then gave Golden State seconds by settling for contested shots early in the shot clock.
Burton was a menace on the other end, feasting on open looks from the perimeter for 3-of-3 shooting from downtown in the second. Burton and Gabby Williams, who is the odds-on favorite to win WNBA Defensive Player of the Year at this point, led all scorers with 11 points apiece at the break.
Burton’s nine points in the quarter matched Dallas’ offensive output as a team.
Turn the Paige on this one
Bueckers had a good third quarter against the Valkyries, with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting, and followed it up with some quality shot-making in the fourth. But it was another game, and another slow start for one of the best young players in the league. She also turned the ball over a season-high seven times in the loss.
With the Wings facing a 16-point deficit entering the fourth, Fernandez gave Bueckers a rest to start the fourth. With Bueckers or without her on the floor, the Wings just didn’t have the firepower to hang with the Valkyries on Monday until it was too late. Dallas shot just 5-of-21 (23.8%) from 3-point range in the loss.
Bureckers finished with 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting in 34 minutes at Golden State.
