Nneka Ogwumike racked up 23 points and hauled down 18 rebounds to lift the Seattle Storm to a 79-71 win over Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings on Monday in Arlington, Texas.
The Storm (1-1) bounced back from a 22-point loss at Phoenix in their season opener with a dominating second quarter that gave them a 15-point lead at halftime. Dallas trimmed the deficit to three points early in the fourth quarter but then went cold, scoring just one field goal in a nearly four-minute span as the Storm scored eight consecutive points.
Seattle led 74-63 after Ezi Magbegor’s layup with 4:14 to play and that was more than enough for the Storm to get to the finish line.
The 18 rebounds for Ogwumike was two off her career high. Skylar Diggins added 21 points and nine assists and Gabby Williams scored 17 points for Seattle.
Bueckers, the first overall pick in last month’s WNBA draft, led the Wings (0-2) with 19 points.
NaLyssa Smith and Maddy Siegrist added 12 each for Dallas while Teaira McCowan scored 10 off the bench.
Dallas led 23-22 when McCowan produced a three-point play with 48 seconds to play in the first period and held a 26-25 advantage after 10 minutes of play.
The Wings pushed their lead to three points early in the second period before Seattle asserted itself, forging a 44-34 advantage after Williams’ 3-pointer with 4:05 remaining until halftime. The Storm used the long-distance shot to begin to pull away, building their lead to 17 points and then settling for a 56-41 lead at the break when Dominique Malonga scored at the buzzer.
Diggins paced all scorers with 16 points before halftime while Williams and Ogwumike added 13 each for the Storm. Seattle buried 9-of-11 from beyond the arc in the first half.
Bueckers led the Wings with 11 points in the first half.
Dallas turned to its defense to get back in the game in the third quarter, holding the Storm to just 10 points. The Wings forged an 11-0 run capped by a second chance layup by McCowan to cut their deficit to 64-61 but a bucket by Ogwumike with 24 seconds remaining in the period allowed Seattle to take a 66-61 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
–Field Level Media
