ARLINGTON, TX — The Dallas Wings’ (11-8) second-half comeback came up short on Sunday in a 85-77 loss to the Minnesota Lynx (15-4) at College Park Center.
Paige Bueckers led all scorers with 25 points in the loss, and Azzi Fudd added 21 more to go along with four steals and a blocked shot. But the Wings couldn’t find the third scorer they needed, especially in the first half. Rookie point guard Olivia Miles and forward Natasha Howard led the Lynx with 21 points apiece. Miles dished eight assists in the win,
and Howard grabbed 14 rebounds.
The Wings were a little out of sorts on offense to start the game. Bueckers threw the ball away three times in the first. The passing wasn’t crisp, and it led to a few disjointed possessions with Arike Ogunbowale launching perimeter heaves toward the end of the shot clock. Even when the Wings woke up a little bit on the offensive end, they had already allowed the Lynx to find their rhythm from 3-point range on the other end.
Fudd hit a mid-range pull-up and Bueckers drove to the hoop to cut the Minnesota lead down to 12-10 midway through the first, but Kayla McBride and Nia Coffey each hit their second 3-pointers of the first quarter over the next two minutes to push it back to a 20-14 advantage.
The Lynx shot 7-of-11 from 3-point land in the first quarter. Maya Caldwell made her first off the bench with :56 left in the opener to extend the Lynx’ lead to 26-16. Anytime a Dallas defender went under a screen, Lynx shooters made them pay. Minnesota held a 28-16 lead after one, as Dallas missed all seven of its first-quarter 3-point attempts.
The second quarter was more of a stalemate, but Dallas couldn’t make up any ground, starting the quarter 3-of-15 from the field. A simmering on-court feud between Lynx rookie star Olivia Miles and Wings’ forward Jessica Shepard started to take shape in the second as well, as Miles fouled Shepard as Shepard crossed the timeline with three minutes left in the half, and the two exchanged words as officials broke up the play.
The Lynx extended their lead to 17, up 43-36, on Courtney Williams’ first 3-ball of the game, and Minnesota took a 45-29 lead into the break. McBride led all scorers with 12 points at halftime, while Bueckers led the Wings with 10.
After falling down by 20 in the third, the Wings finally started to battle back a little. Two 3-pointers from Fudd and another from Bueckers late in the third cut the Lynx lead to 60-46 and forced Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve into a timeout with 2:18 left.
The Wings cut the lead to 10 points before the end of the quarter, and Miles caught a technical foul with zeroes on the clock when she demonstrably argued a non-call on a play she thought should have been a foul as time expired in the third. Then, with 8:48 left in the fourth, Maddy Siegrist’s foul on Miles’ drive was upgraded to a flagrant, giving Miles two free throws and awarding Minnesota another possession, with the Lynx leading 68-55. It’s fun when the teams in front of you clearly don’t like each other.
Bueckers’ three-point play on the other end cut the lead back down to 10, and her back-cut in the face of Williams the next time down made it 68-60. Fudd broke the Lynx’ play up on one end with six minutes to play then trailed the Wings’ offense in transition, popping open for her third 3-ball of the game to cut the led to 73-67 with 5:51 left. Dallas, at that point, had outscored Minnesota 32-15 over the last 9:45 of game time.
But the comeback wasn’t to be. The hill was too steep, and the Lynx outscored the Wings 12-7 over the next four minutes to put the game out of reach as Miles found Natasha Howard cutting to the bucket with 1:02 left to play to make it 85-74.
The distance between
No matter the outcome of this game, Dallas has taken several steps in the right direction this season. What Saturday’s loss, and the three-game series with the Lynx in particular, have shown us, is that this team still has a long way to go to contend. Minnesota is a well-oiled machine, even without Napheesa Collier — truly a scary thought for the rest of the WNBA.
Dallas is a team that can play with anyone when the Wings are at their best. The Lynx are a team that can run anyone in the league out of the gym on their best nights. The gulf between the two teams looked pretty wide, until the Wings’ failed comeback started midway through the third. You can complete those kinds of comebacks against teams like Chicago and Seattle — not against Minnesota.
The distance between from distance
The gulf in perimeter shooting between the Lynx the Wings on Sunday made it look even wider. The Lynx weren’t quite as hot in the second quarter as they were in the first, but one look at the halftime box score diagnosed the Wings’ problem. Minnesota made 9-of-17 (52.9%) from deep in the first half, while Dallas made just 1-of-14 (7.1%). Yea, that’s a 27-3 scoring advantage from beyond the arc for Minnesota.
The Wings had allowed 44.7% shooting from 3-point range in their last two entering Sunday’s game against the Lynx. Dallas simply isn’t defending the 3-point line well enough to win right now.
The second half was another story, but the damage was done in the first half. Dallas shot 3-of-5 from deep in the third to improve to 7-of-23 (30.4%) for the game. The Lynx cooled off in the second half to shoot 9-of-23 from beyond the arc in the win.
The distance between rookies
Like it or not, Fudd and Miles will be linked for their entire careers after going 1-2 overall in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Miles’ career took off from the season’s first game, scoring 21 points and dishing eight assists in the Lynx’ season-opening loss to the Atlanta Dream. Fudd started the year coming off the bench for the Wings after a deeper NCAA run in her final year at UConn.
In the first game of the season between these two teams on May 14, Miles scored 15 points and gave out six assists, while Fudd scored eight to go along with two stocks (steals + blocked shots). The Lynx won, 90-86, prompting Wings’ head coach Jose Fernandez to call out what he characterized as “selfishness” in the team’s locker room. In the second matchup of the year on June 9, the Lynx took the Wings apart in Minneapolis, 100-76. Miles had 24 and six, while Fudd scored just six.
Fudd scored just two points in the first half on Sunday, but got going in the third quarter, scoring on a jumper over Miles before knocking down her first 3-ball of the game with 4:15 left in the frame. Bueckers found her again a minute later for her second, but all those 3-pointers did was cut the Minnesota lead to 17 points, 60-43. Fudd scored 12 of her 21 points in the third, while Miles added eight assists to her 21 points in the win.
What makes the comparisons all the more interesting is that a nascent rivalry may be forming between these two teams as the Wings rise through the WNBA ranks. It’s going to take some time to catch the Lynx, though.
