Wings Things: Even minus Caitlin Clark, Wings-Fever provided huge moments down the stretch at AAC

Paige Bueckers led the Wings with 27, but Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchel combined for 52 points to lead the Indiana Fever past the Wings, 94-86, at American Airlines Center.

DALLAS, TX — This was not the spotlight game the Dallas Wings (4-13) had in mind when the first meeting of Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark was moved from Arlington’s College Park Center to American Airlines Center. Clark sat out for the Fever (8-8) with a groin injury on Friday, but Indiana still got the better of Dallas on the Wings’ adopted home floor in a 94-86 win in front of 20,409 WNBA fans. That’s almost triple the attendance at the average Wings home game back in Arlington.

Even in losing what turned out to be a winnable game, even with the notable injury absence of the most prolific young star in league history, even with the home team being something of an unfamiliar entity to the Dallas crowd, since the Wings have lived across the Dallas-Tarrant County line the past nine years, the Wings proved something on Friday night.

The WNBA can fill the biggest barns in town. There is a healthy appetite for good basketball in DFW, and more and more this season, the Wings are putting together solid stretches of good basketball, though their overall record may not reflect that.

“It makes you excited for the future and what it can grow into if we keep investing in women’s sports,” Bueckers said. “This was a great environment.”

Sure, without the possibility of the Clark vs. Bueckers showdown, the raucous sellout crowd may not have bought up all those tickets. But Bueckers proved an ability to command the sellout crowd all on her own. Once they were seated, the fans in attendance hung on Bueckers’ every jab step, every pump fake and every finish. The rookie star led the Wings with 27 points and six assists in the loss.

The Fever turned the temperature up off the opening tip, starting the game on a 14-2 run. Lexie Hull hit her first 3-point attempt of the game to cap the run and force the Wings’ first timeout with 7:17 left in the first.

Just like in last week’s 91-88 overtime loss to the Washington Mystics, Dallas started the game shooting 1-of-13 from the field and put themselves in a deep hole early. Meanwhile, Indiana made 13 of their first 14 attempts from the field and took a 33-13 lead after one.

Bueckers had some early trouble from the perimeter but wowed the crowd with a couple of tough, driving 3-point plays in the first half. She led the Wings with 12 points at the break when her 3-pointer from 40 feet away swished through with just one second left on the clock and brought Dallas to within 13, down 56-43 at the break. Logo 3-pointers are usually Clark’s calling card, but in her absence, Bueckers was happy to give the crowd a logo-length look of her own as the half expired.

The problem in the first half was the Dallas defense. The Wings allowed the Fever to shoot 20-of-27 (74.1%) from the field in the first half. The trio of point guard Aari McDonald, center Aliyah Boston and guard Kelsey Mitchell combined to torch the Wings for 41 points on 15-of-17 shooting in the first two quarters.

But quietly, methodically, Dallas put together their comeback over the middle two quarters. The Wings outscored the visiting Fever by 15 points in the middle two quarters as Bueckers started to heat up and Arike Ogunbowale joined her on the comeback crusade.

Photo by Mercedes Oliver/NBAE via Getty Images

Bueckers took center stage early in the fourth quarter. She crossed up her defender and pulled up from near the free-throw line to pull the Wings to within five points, down 79-74, with 7:07 left to play. Then she crossed over and gave Hull the step-back treatment on the Wings’ next possession, raising up for the contested 3-ball that brought the Wings to within two, down just 79-77, with 6:20 left to play. JJ Quinerly’s 3-point play on the following possession gave the Wings their first lead of the game with 5:29 left.

The sellout crowd was forced to the edge of their seats.

“We have a lot of fight, but obviously, it’s hard in this league to come back,” Ogunbowale said. “Every team is good. We definitely showed fight, but we can’t start off like that in the first.”

The Fever responded with a decisive 12-2 run fueled by Natasha Howard (15 points) that made it 91-82 with just over two minutes to play. They limited Ogunbowale to just two shots in the game’s final five minutes and held Bueckers without a shot attempt in that same stretch. Mitchell led all scorers with 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting and added seven assists in the win. Boston chipped in 21 more on 9-of-14 shooting. Ogunbowale added 15 for the Wings in the loss, and Azaiah James chipped in 14 more.

“It’s extremely disappointing that we needed that slow start to get us going,” Wings head coach Chris Koclanes said. “But it is encouraging to know that you have a group that is resilient. We’re still working on putting it all together for 40 minutes.”