The Dallas Wings were dead in the water Saturday night. Down 15 points in the fourth quarter. Facing a 71-57 deficit entering the final period. And then they just started clawing.
The result was a 93-92 win over the Chicago Sky at College Park Center that stands as the third-largest fourth-quarter comeback in franchise history. Dallas also dropped a season-high 36 points in that quarter alone, which tells you how badly things flipped.
Paige Bueckers was the one pulling the strings. The rookie finished with 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, but the box score doesn’t capture how much she had to grind for it. Bueckers scored just seven points in the first half while shooting 2-for-9 from the floor. Then the fourth quarter happened, and she basically willed the Wings back.
She accounted for 10 of Dallas’ 11 points during one critical stretch. Then with 30.6 seconds left and the Wings trailing 92-87, Bueckers curled off a screen, drained a three and got fouled by Natasha Cloud. She hit the free throw for the four-point play, and suddenly Chicago’s lead was down to 92-91.
Li Yueru forced an over-and-back turnover on the Sky’s next inbound. Then with 12.5 seconds to go, Yueru drew a foul and calmly knocked down both free throws to give Dallas its first lead of the whole game at 93-92. The Wings never trailed again.
Afterward Bueckers talked about the mentality that kept them alive.
“We always felt like we were in it, and we were scrapping and fighting,” she said. “We were just trying to attack that way and just chip away, not hit any home runs, but one possession at a time, dig in defensively, get what we want and execute offensively and just keep huddling — keep having that constant communication of what we want and just to stick with it until the final buzzer.”
Jessica Shepard was huge too. She put up 21 points and eight boards, with 17 of those points coming in the second half as Dallas kept attacking mismatches created by Kamilla Cardoso. Azzi Fudd chipped in 13, Arike Ogunbowale added 12.
On the other side, Chicago dropped to 4-11 and lost its fifth straight. Cardoso had 26 points and nine rebounds. Sydney Taylor scored 18 before fouling out. Skylar Diggins had 14, and Cloud finished with 10.
The Sky controlled most of the night. They led 28-16 after one quarter and 43-38 at halftime. But that fourth quarter was a different story entirely, and Bueckers was at the center of it.
The win pushed Dallas to 10-6. That already matches the Wings’ total from all of last season.
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