Arike Ogunbowale inspired the Dallas Wings to victory over the Seattle Storm with a decisive three-pointer, while the Minnesota Lynx beat the Atlanta Dream for the second time in three nights.
Monday 7 June 2021 08:16, UK
Arike Ogunbowale scored 24 points, including the deciding three-pointer with two seconds remaining, as the Dallas Wings roared from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat the Seattle Storm 68-67 on Sunday.
Dallas trailed by seven points heading into the final period but rallied to pull within 67-65 on an Ogunbowale three-pointer with 32.6 seconds left. After a miss by the Storm, Dallas ran a play for her again, and she produced the game-winner.
Breanna Stewart had a final shot for the Storm, who had beaten Dallas in overtime both on Friday and two weeks earlier, but missed with 0.7 seconds to play.
Marina Mabrey had 15 points for the Wings (3-5) with Isabelle Harrison adding 14. Jewell Loyd scored 25 points, 19 of them in the second half for Seattle, who saw their six-game win streak snapped. Stewart scored 14 for the Storm and Sue Bird had 13 points and team-highs in both rebounds (7) and assists (5).
The Wings scored the final seven points of the first period, five of them by Ogunbowale, to run to a 17-13 lead after 10 minutes of play.
Seattle took the lead early in the second quarter when Ezi Madbegor's layup capped a 9-2 run. The Storm would push their advantage to as many as 10 points, 33-23, on the second of two Bird three-pointers with 2:42 remaining in the half. Dallas again were best at the end of the period, pulling to within 33-28 at intermission.
Bird led all scorers with 11 points in the half, with Ogunbowale pacing the way for the Wings with nine points. Neither team shot well over the first two quarters, with Seattle owning a 32.3 per cent to 29.4 per cent edge from the floor, and Dallas going only one of 10 from beyond the arc.
The Storm opened the third period on a 5-0 run, went up by 11 points and then 51-39 on a Loyd three-pointer at the 3:24 mark of the period. Mabrey's late jumper allowed Dallas to pull within 56-49.
The Wings' five defeats this year have come by an average of 4.6 points per loss.
Kayla McBride had 19 points and reserve Crystal Dangerfield scored six of her 17 points in a pivotal stretch of the third quarter to lead the Minnesota Lynx to a 100-80 win over the visiting Atlanta Dream.
The Lynx also defeated Atlanta 86-84 on Friday night at the Target Center to snap the Dream's four-game winning streak.
Minnesota (3-4) has won three consecutive games after losing its first four. Sylvia Fowles had 17 points on six of seven shooting from the field with seven rebounds, two assists and five steals (tying a career high) for the Lynx. Napheesa Collier added 14 points and six assists and reserve Rachel Banham contributed 13 points.
Minnesota made 51.5 per cent of its shots, 11 of which were three-pointers. Atlanta (4-4) was led by Tiffany Hayes' 21 points and fellow starter Courtney Williams added 13 points with five assists and five rebounds.
Reserves Aari McDonald (15 points), Cheyenne Parker (12) and Crystal Bradford (12) combined for 39 points but they also had seven turnovers.
The Lynx tallied 21 points off Atlanta's 11 turnovers in the first half to take a 52-38 half-time lead. The Dream finished with 18 turnovers.
Parker's three-point play with 1:40 left in the third quarter cut the lead to 65-59 after Minnesota led by as many 15 points earlier in the quarter.
The Lynx quickly outscored Atlanta 11-2 to take a 15-point lead, 76-61, with 2.3 seconds left in the quarter. Dangerfield had six points to close that stretch, including three on free throws after she was fouled attempting a three-pointer.
Williams made a three-pointer at the buzzer for Atlanta to cut the lead to 76-64 entering the fourth quarter.
Minnesota outscored the Dream 10-4 to start the fourth quarter to take control of the game, pulling away to an 86-68 lead.
Atlanta reserve Monique Billings had two points and six rebounds, giving her 500 career points.
