Playoff-bound Wings accelerate into FIBA World Cup break in another dominant win vs. Sun
· Yahoo Sports
ARLINGTON — Several members of the Dallas Wings will soon travel to Berlin for the FIBA Women’s World Cup, which opens Friday. But the Wings first had to handle WNBA business before the league takes a two-week break to accommodate players and coaches participating in the international tournament.
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That’s what they did Sunday night at College Park Center in a 97-71 win over the Connecticut Sun (10–30), their fourth straight victory. Dallas (24–16) completed a regular season sweep of the Sun, who were without star post players Brittney Griner and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
Four Wings players finished in double figures with veteran guard Arike Ogunbowale scoring a team high 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting. All-Star forward Jessica Shepard recorded a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double and All-Star guard Paige Bueckers scored 15 points to go along with a game-high six assists. Dallas’ starters rested in the fourth quarter.
"It's right before the World Cup break," Wings coach Jose Fernandez said. "When the score is like that, you're able to do that."
Sunday marked the last time the Wings played the Sun, as they are known today. The franchise will relocate to Houston beginning with the 2027 season and will be renamed the Comets, reviving the city’s original WNBA team.
The Wings already clinched the league’s final playoff spot and qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2023 with last Tuesday’s win over the Portland Fire, but Dallas can improve its seeding if it keeps winning. The Wings sit at eighth in the standings.
Dallas claims regular season series wins over the seventh-place New York Liberty (24-16), the third-place Las Vegas Aces (27–13) and the fifth-place Indiana Fever (26–14). The Wings and the Washington Mystics (24–16) have identical records entering the break, but Washington won the regular season series 2-1.
Four games remain on the regular season schedule for the Wings, who went a combined 19–65 over the last two years, and in 2026, have achieved the most wins in a single season since the franchise moved to North Texas in 2016. But they aren't done yet.
"We're playing to win out," Fernandez said. "You can only do that by that next game being the most important one."
Dallas will play that last stretch of games after the World Cup break, which runs from Aug. 31 through Sept. 16. The Wings won’t return to the court until Sept. 17, when they welcome the Los Angeles Sparks to College Park Center.
Bueckers and Fernandez will represent the United States at the World Cup — Bueckers as a player and Fernandez as a scout coach. Alanna Smith, Li Yueru and Costanza Verona will play for Australia, China and Italy, respectively.
"To be able to represent our country and play for something so much bigger than yourself — it's truly an honor at the highest level," Bueckers said.
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