LAS VEGAS — After battling back in the third quarter from being down 18, the Dallas Wings didn't come away with a win against the Aces, losing 104-91 at Michelob ULTRA Arena on Sunday.
Vegas' A'ja Wilson got the game started with a driving layup 40 seconds into the game for the first basket and the Aces led the rest of the way.
The Aces' Kelsey Plum made two free throws to extend the lead to 79-61 late in the third quarter, but the Wings' Crystal Dangerfield and Arike Ogunbowale made back-to-back 3-pointers in a 15-0 run, capped when Dangerfield hit a pull-up jumper that pulled Dallas within three points with 8 1/2 minutes to go. The Wings' 31 points in the third tied their season high for points in the quarter.
But it wasn't enough in the end. The Wings' shots just weren't falling. Ogunbowale, the WNBA's third-leading scorer with 21.9 points per game, had 14 points but made just 6 of 18 shots.
"We just needed better execution. Following the game plan, that first quarter hurt us, and against a good team you can’t let them get that much momentum," Dallas Wings head coach Latricia Trammell said in her postgame interview. "It’s usually our big three but this time it was theirs."
The Aces made 32 of 64 from the field, shot 52% (13 of 25) from 3-point range, hit 27 of 28 (96.4%) from the free throw line, and committed just eight turnovers.
Plum scored 28 points, Chelsea Gray added 27 points and eight assists, and Wilson had 22 points and six blocks as the Aces avenged one of their two losses this season.
Dallas, which has lost two of three games to the Aces this season — they play the fourth and final time this season on Aug. 8 — is the only team in the WNBA to beat Las Vegas, New York and Connecticut, the top-three teams in the standings. The Wings are four games behind the third-place Sun and nine back of the league-leading Aces.
Despite the loss, Dallas' Teaira McCowan earned her sixth double-double of the season with 25 points and 14 rebounds.
"I think she did a fantastic job, and she shouldn’t lay her head down because she did what she was supposed to do," said Trammell about McCowan's performance.
Dallas' Natasha Howard joined McCowan with a double-double too, with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Wings have had two players record a double-double in the same game 12 times this season -- other teams in the league haven't done it more than six times.
Up next, the Wings head to Seattle to play the Storm on Wednesday, Aug. 2-- the series is tied 1-1 -- with tipoff scheduled at 9 p.m. CT.
“We got to go back and watch film on what we did wrong and what we don’t want to do when we play Seattle,” Howard said about rebounding after the loss against the Aces. “Just do the little things and execute the plays on the offensive and defensive end. Just be poised,” she said.
