The Phoenix Mercury (16-26) spoiled the Dallas Wings’ (26-17) chances of improving their playoff positioning, earning an 87-86 win at Mortgage Matchup Center with a last-second reverse layup by Kahleah Copper, who led all scorers with 31 points in the win. Paige Bueckers, who led the Wings with 30 points while dishing seven assists in the loss, got one last shot at the win, but air-mailed a turnaround jumper at the horn. Copper only had the chance at the game-winner because the officiating crew overturned
a foul call against Alyssa Thomas with 15 seconds left to play against Arike Ogunbowale, in favor of a controversial jump ball call instead. Thomas appeared to reach in and hiug Ogunbowale on the play that was ultimately overturned.
Bueckers and Awak Kuier started the game hot from the perimeter for the Wings. Bueckers nailed a fallaway and a 3-pointer near the top of the key to give Dallas an early 10-7 lead before Kuier’s second 3-ball of the first quarter put the Wings up 13-8 just 4:22 into the proceedings.
Kuier also blocked two shots in the game’s first five minutes, but Thomas paced the Mercury early to keep Phoenix in it. She spun away from Bueckers inside on a broken play with 2:40 left in the first to cut the Wings’ lead to 17-13. Thomas led the Mercury with eight points in the first, and Bueckers led everyone with nine points and four assists as Dallas took a 26-19 lead after one. She and Kuier combined to shoot 3-of-3 from 3-point range in the first, and the Wings did not turn the ball over in the opening stanza after coming into the game second in the WNBA at just 12.1 turnovers per game.
Aziaha James took up the mantle early in the second quarter as even more injuries began to mount for Dallas. She nailed a couple of pull-up jumpers in the first 1:30 of the frame to give the Wings a 31-19 lead, before Maddy Siegrist hit her first 3-pointer a minute later to extend it to 35-21.
Copper, who was questionable with an illness going into Monday’s game, sparked a little flurry that saw the Mercury score eight of the game’s next 10 points to pull within 37-29. Wings head coach Jose Fernandez called a timeout to regroup with 4:23 left in the half after Copper drove past Siegrist for a bucket that cut the lead to eight.
Bueckers responded with a tough jumper from the nail out of timeout to give Dallas a 10-point lead again, but Phoenix cut it right back down to five late in the second. Thomas put up a floater over Siegrist with 2:35 remaining to make it 40-35, before Siegrist responded with her second 3-ball of the game at the other end.
But Dallas’ refusal to get out onto Phoenix 3-point shooters bit the Wings hard as the first half drew to a close. Kara Dunn hit 3-balls from each baseline in a span of 30 seconds to pull the Mercury to within 45-43 with 56 seconds left.
Bueckers nailed her first attempt of the third quarter to give her 15 points and push the lead to 49-43. After another 9-2 Mercury run gave Phoenix its first lead early in the third since the game’s opening minutes, Bueckers stopped the bleeding with a baseline 3-pointer 3:35 into the third to put Dallas back on top, 54-52. That kicked off a 17-4 run for the Wings in response, giving Dallas a 68-55 lead late in the third. The Wings took a 68-61 lead into the fourth.
Kuier leaves briefly in first
Kuier rolled an ankle on the same play she blocked her third shot of the first quarter, defending a Lexi Held 3-point attempt with 2:07 left in the frame. It was an unfortunate end to one of the most productive quarters Kuier has played all season. She had six points on 2-of-2 shooting from distance and three blocked shots to that point.
With Alanna Smith out with a leg injury and Azzi Fudd out for the season with a knee, the Wings cannot afford to lose any more contributors this close to the start of the playoffs. To add insult to injury, Alysha Clark went down in the second quarter after taking a swipe to the face in transition defense from Copper.
So it was a good sign when Kuier returned to the game with six minutes left in the second. The tweaked ankle seemed to halt some of the momentum Kuier built in the first quarter, though, as she did not get a shot up in the second. Meanwhile, the Mercury cut what was at one point a 14-point Wings lead down to four before the break.
Clark, for her part, did not return to the game.
Tough night for Arike
Arike Ogunbowale got off to a slow start at Phoenix, missing all four of her first-half shot attempts. She settled for step-back 3-point attempts, blew a finish in transition and failed to score a point in the first two quarters, as Phoenix began to mount their run.
She fed into that continued run early in the third when she failed to get back in transition defense, giving up an easy layup to Copper to make it a 49-45 game a minute into the second half. The Mercury would eventually take a 50-49 lead two minutes into the third.
Ogunbowale hit her first bucket of the game with 5:35 left to play in the third quarter, a spot-up 3-ball from near the left corner to give the Wings a 59-54 lead and force a timeout from Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts. Ogunbowale scored 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field in Saturday’s 87-82 win over the same Mercury team, which is just the latest example of the volatility of her game.
She scored four more clutch points in the fourth quarter as the Wings struggled to hang onto the lead late, but Dallas could have used a more consistent effort from Ogunbowale, who finished with seven points, on Monday.
Down the stretch
Copper banked home a driving bucket over Kuier’s outstretched arm to cut the Wings’ lead to five on the Mercury’s first possession of the fourth, but Bueckers responded with a pull-up jumper on the other end to give her a game-high 25 points.
Kuier scored her first bucket since the first quarter a minute later, a contested post hook over Thomas to give the Wings a 74-63 lead with 8:48 left in the game. Just a couple of minutes later, Kuier blocked her fourth shot of the game on a drive by Copper, to preserve Dallas’ 74-67 lead. That led to another pull-up jumper from the nail for Bueckers on the other end.
Then Kuier blocked her fifth, on a turnaround attempt by Thomas with 4:40 left to play. She showed great anticipation on the defensive end all night. Monday was the third game in the team’s last five where Kuier has recorded five or more blocked shots.
But the Mercury wasn’t going anywhere. Copper and Thomas continued to give the Wings problems, and every Wing not named Bueckers continued to have trouble finishing on offense, as the lead hovered around five in the game’s final minutes. Two free throws from Dunn pulled Phoenix to within 79-75 with 2:40 left to play, then Jessica Shepard missed two crucial free throws on the other end.
Copper converted a bucket inside on a back-door cut and a reverse layup with two minutes left to make it 79-77, but Ogunbowale hit her second shot of the game on a pull-up jumper along the baseline to give the Wings some breathing room the next time down.
But Thomas scored inside the next time down, Shepard missed a jumper in the lane for Dallas, and Copper went back to the free-throw line with 50 seconds to play after being fouled by Odyssey Sims. Copper tied the game, but Bueckers nailed her fourth 3-pointer of the game with 33 seconds to play in response, giving the Wings an 84-81 lead as the seconds began to tick away.
The Wings lost Natasha Mack under the basket on a sideline out of bounds play, then the officials reversed a foul call against Thomas on Ogunbowale with 11 seconds to play in favor of a jump ball call. On the play it looked like Thomas was hugging Ogunbowale, but they overturned the call anyway. Copper came open with three seconds left in the fourth and scored the game-winning basket with just two ticks left. She scored 16 of her 31 points in the fourth quarter, and the Wings played sloppily enough down the stretch to let it all happen with playoff positioning on the line.
The loss snaps a six-game win streak for Dallas. The regular season will wrap up on Wednesday in Seattle.
