Arike Ogunbowale scored 19 points and drilled four late free throws Friday night as the Dallas Wings held off the Atlanta Dream 85-82 in Arlington, Texas.
Rookie Jacy Sheldon set career-highs with 17 points and five 3-pointers for the Wings (5-16), who had lost three straight and 14 of their past 15 games after starting 3-2.
Dallas’ Teaira McCowan had 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Odyssey Sims scored 14 and dished out seven assists. Natasha Howard chipped in 10 points after scoring a career-high 36 on Wednesday.
Dream center Tina Charles, 35, scored 12 points and moved past Tamika Catchings into third place on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list with 7,383 points in her 13-year career. She added eight rebounds.
All-Star Allisha Gray scored 19 points, Haley Jones added 16 and Maya Caldwell had 11 for the Dream.
Atlanta (7-12) set its season high in turnovers for the second straight game, committing 29 after tallying 18 in its 85-77 loss to the Chicago Sky on Tuesday.
Leading by one late in the fourth, Sims stole the ball from Gray and finished on the other end to put Dallas up 79-76 with 1:08 to play.
That came after Gray hit the Dream’s second 3-pointer of the game with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter to pull Atlanta within one. Gray was fouled on the play but missed the ensuing free throw.
The Dream finished 2-of-6 from 3-point range compared to the Wings’ 7-of-21, but outscored Dallas 56-38 in the paint.
Howard’s jumper boosted the Wings’ lead to five with 45 seconds left, and Ogunbowale twice answered an Atlanta bucket with a 2-for-2 trip to the line to seal the win.
Neither team led by more than seven in a game that featured 10 ties and 18 lead changes.
Dallas led 42-41 at halftime.
McCowan led all players with 12 points and six boards in the first half, while Jones and Maya Caldwell combined for 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting.
–Field Level Media