The Wings collapsed down the stretch and let a win slip through their fingers like so much desert sand.
The Dallas Wings (1-11) forced nine straight turnovers and started the second half on a 22-2 run on Friday, but not even climbing up that hill was enough to secure their second win of the season against the Las Vegas Aces (5-4).
The Wings collapsed down the stretch of an 88-84 loss at Michelob Ultra Arena as the Aces outscored Dallas 17-2 to end the game and cement the Wings’ sixth straight loss in the worst start to a season in franchise history.
Dallas came into Friday’s game searching for that put-away run, that killer instinct, that crucial bunch of stops and buckets on the other end — all the things that add up to winning basketball. They thought they’d found it entering the fourth quarter.
The Wings built a lead as large as 13 points during that 22-2 run to open the third, but Las Vegas cut it to 76-71 on Jackie Young’s drive to the cup with 5:48 left to play. Paige Bueckers nailed a pull-up jumper, DiJonai Carrington drove to the bucket and Luisa Geiselsoder made a nice cut to get open in the lane in response — three straight clutch buckets to extend the Dallas lead to 11, up 82-71 with 3:40 left.
Bueckers turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions down the stretch, the latter of which resulted in a transition take foul that sent Jewell Loyd to the free throw line, then Ogunbowale charged into Loyd after Loyd sunk her two free throws to pull the Aces to within 82-77.
After two more free throws from Young and with 1:53 left on the clock, the Wings were nursing a fragile 82-79 lead. Ogunbowale’s errant pass was picked off by Aces guard Chelsea Gray. Carrington fouled Young on a call Carrington thought should have been a jump ball, and Young sank two more to make it an 82-81 game with 1:05 remaining.
After Bueckers missed a long jumper on one end, a broken play led to Gray’s offensive rebound on the other end. She found Loyd open for a corner 3-ball as Geiselsoder closed out on the shot. Loyd’s fifth 3-pointer of the game swished home as violent wartime flashbacks flooded through the mind’s eye of Wings fans back home. The Aces held Dallas without a field goal in the game’s final 3:55.
The Aces were without star center A’ja Wilson, who is in the WNBA’s concussion protocol, offering Dallas a unique opportunity to sneak away with a win over a quality opponent on the road. But this Wings team just can’t find the grit to put a team away when they have the chance.
Arike Ogunbowale canned a 3-pointer from the top of the key midway through the first to give the Wings a 15-12 lead, but Dallas missed its next six shot attempts over the next four-plus minutes as Vegas went on an 8-0 run to take control of the game and a 24-18 lead after one.
The Wings don’t do well when playing from behind, and they’ve backed themselves into a corner in each of their 11 losses to start the 2025 season. There have been moments of inspiration, but they have come too few and far between. Ogunbowale hit her second 3-pointer, on a smooth little step-back move, with 8:12 left in the second, then found NaLyssa Smith open under the basket two minutes later to pull Dallas within 31-29 and force an Aces timeout.
The Aces outscored the Wings 9-2 out of that timeout, including two open spot-up 3-pointers from Loyd, who scored 16 of her 21 points in the first half. Young led all scorers with 28 points for the Aces in the win. Ogunbowale scored just two points in the fourth quarter but led the Wings with 26 in the loss.