RECAP: Rookies Lead Wings to 98-89 Win Over Phoenix Mercury
On Thursday night, the Dallas Wings, showing remarkable resilience in the absence of second-leading scorer Arike Ogunbowale, secured their biggest win of the season with a 98-89 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.
Rookies Showed Up
The Wings started four rookies, including Aziaha James, who scored 28 points, grabbed six rebounds, and dished out six assists.
James went 10-20 from the field and 5-9 from beyond the arc.
She became the fifth Rookie to score 25 or more points, grab five or more rebounds, dish out five or more assists, and hit at least five 3-pointers in a WNBA game.
“This league is fast-paced, and one of the things I’ve been working on is patience,” James said in press conference. “I feel like I was patient tonight, allowed my shots to come to me, and just took the right ones.”
Paige Bueckers, fresh off her Rookie of the Month Award, scored 23 points with four rebounds and five assists. It was Bueckers’ seventh 20-point game this season.
“It’s really fun to play team basketball like this,” Bueckers said in press conference.
“All eight who played made an impact. It was the Aziaha James game. She was fearless and confident on both ends.”
JJ Quinery also played well for the Wings, playing with tempo and bringing a lot of energy.
Quinerly scored 17 points and had seven assists and five rebounds.
“I’m fast and I’m small, so it’s kind of easy to get into lanes and create kick-outs or dump-offs,” she said.
“I just try to get into spots where other people can’t.”
Bigs Played Well and Fast Start
The Wings’ bigs also played well. Li Yueru had 12 rebounds and 11 points. Luisa Geiselsoder shot well but had four rebounds and three blocks, and Teaira McCowan added nine points from the bench.
The Wings set the tempo early in the game, outscoring the Mercury 32-20 in the first quarter and 29-23 in the second quarter to take a 61-46 lead into halftime. Dallas shot 60.6% from the floor, 58.3% from 3-point range, and 93.3% at the free throw line in the first half.
Dallas was outscored 44-37 in the second half, but it was not enough for the Phoenix to take a lead. The Wings concluded the night shooting 47.8% from the field, 36.4% from 3-point range, and 83.9% at the free throw line. Copper finished with a season-high 33 points for the Mercury.
Dallas both outshot and outrebounded (38-26) Phoenix on the night.
“We’ve been talking about playing a full 40 minutes,” Wings head coach Chris Koclanes said.
“Tonight wasn’t perfect, but it was close. We started strong, shared the ball, defended, and trusted each other.”
The upcoming rematch with the Mercury on Monday could be a turning point for the team.
“They’ll be ready,” Koclanes said.
“They’ll adjust. The question now is, how do we respond to success? Can we take this and raise our level again?”
If the Wings can build off this game, they could start to turn their season around.
With a current record of 6-13 and two consecutive wins, the Wings are showing promising signs.
PHOTO: Michael Chow/The Republic/USA TODAY NETWORK/Imagn Images
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Categorized:Wings