NEW YORK — Arike Ogunbowale scored 25 points and Teaira McCowan added 15 points with 12 rebounds to help the Dallas Wings beat the New York Liberty 98-88 on Wednesday in a matinee camp day game.
Dallas is now the only team in the WNBA to have beaten both the top team in the Eastern Conference (Liberty) and Western Conference (Las Vegas Aces). And after the Washington Mystics loss Wednesday, the Wings are ranked fifth in the league.
In today's performance against the Liberty, the Wings showed their more than ready to take over in the second half of this season following the All-Star break.
“We wanted to go into the game today with a mindset of our record being 0-0. We wanted to accomplish some things we felt like we didn’t do in the first 20 games, but coming out and being the only team to beat Vegas and New York in the league, that’s a good start," said Dallas Wings head coach Latricia Trammell in her postgame interview.
But that's not the only accomplishment. The Wings made WNBA history as the first team to have four players each record four or more assists and zero turnovers. In fact, the Wings protected the basketball only committing a season-low two turnovers in the whole game.
“They valued the basketball, which is something we talked about, one of the keys of the game is to take care of the basketball. We knew with New York being as good as they are, we couldn’t give them extra possessions, we couldn’t be without them ending on a positive note," coach Trammell said. "You should see them in that locker room, I’ll get emotional – I’m so happy for them, we have a lot of basketball left and are going to take one game at a time. But I am so excited for them.”
And an area the team wanted to focus on going into the match up against the Liberty was keeping momentum in the third quarter of play -- where they took over.
Trailing 60-59 nearly four minutes into the third quarter, Dallas scored the next 12 points, including two 3-pointers by Ogunbowale, to get their first double-digit lead of the game.
When Ogunbowale wasn't hitting 3-pointers she and her teammates were finding the 6-foot-7 McCowan in the lane. McCowan missed the game in New York in June because she was playing overseas with the Turkish national team. That game featured the first matchup between the Sabally sisters and New York won 102-93.
Dallas led 86-72 with 6:02 left before the Liberty (14-5) scored five straight to get within single digits. They could get no closer as the Wings extended their winning streak to four games.
Breanna Stewart scored 25 points and Sabrina Ionescu added 22 for the Liberty, who saw their four-game winning streak snapped. Ionescu hit five 3-pointers, keeping up her hot shooting from the All-Star 3-point contest where she hit a record 25 of 27 shots.
The Wings will return home to College Park Center in Arlington, where they face off against the Los Angeles Sparks at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday, July 22. Here's how to purchase tickets.
