MINNEAPOLIS — Arike Ogunbowale found her spark and lit up the score board with 32 points to help hold off the Minnesota Lynx, 92-87 Thursday night.
Ogunbowale hit four 3-pointers and was 12-for-24 from the field for Dallas. She had 19 points in the first half to help the Wings take a 48-27 lead into the intermission.
By holding Minnesota to just 27 points, Dallas tied a season-low for Wings opponents.
But the Wings started to see that lead disappear when the Lynx stormed back in the third quarter behind reserve Rachel Banham and Sylvia Fowles.
Banham sank 2 of 3 free throws after a flagrant 1 foul on Dallas' Tyasha Harris, then hit a layup and two more foul shots to cut the deficit to 58-53. Fowles — who finished with 17 rebounds — scored 10 of her 20 points in the period and the Lynx closed within 62-57 by quarter's end.
Banham scored 16 of her 24 points in the final 4:30 of the fourth quarter, twice getting Minnesota within three points, but Allisha Gray, who scored 17, and Ogunbowale both hit two free throws in the final 17.6 seconds to preserve the win.
In a post-game interview Ogunbowale said the win came down to getting locked in together as a team and focusing on execution.
In her second 30+ point game of the season, Ogunbowale expressed happiness, saying “I really wanted this win. You know, they embarrassed us last time here… We came in and did what we had to do.”
This is the final month of the WNBA season with 11 of 12 teams in contention for playoff spots. The Wings slipped to 3rd in the Western conference and are currently in the 6th spot overall in the league.
“The main focus is just winning games. I mean, we take it one game at a time… we can’t get to antsy by looking at the standings and lose focus of the biggest thing. It’s just winning one game at a time and the rest will take care of itself,” said Gray in her post-game interview.
Up next
The Wings will face off against the number one team in the Eastern Conferene -- the Chicago Sky on their homecourt at College Park Center in Arlington. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
For tickets and more information the Wings, click here.
