Satou Sabally racked up 27 points and 15 rebounds and Arike Ogunbowale scored 17 points — including 15 in a pivotal third quarter — as the Dallas Wings defeated the short-handed Washington Mystics 89-72 on Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.
Dallas (8-8) led by four points at halftime before all but putting away the game in a dominating third period in which it outscored the visitors 30-16. Ogunbowale scored half of the Wings’ points in that decisive quarter and Dallas had more than enough to hold on against the Mystics, who played without injured All-Star forward Elena Delle Donne.
Natasha Howard added 13 points for the Wings while Teaira McCowan had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Ariel Atkins led Washington (9-7) with 20 points, with Brittney Sykes adding 15 and Tianna Hawkins producing eight points and 11 rebounds. Delle Donne missed the game with an ankle injury suffered on Friday in a loss to Atlanta.
The Mystics led 13-6 after a jumper by Shatori Walker-Kimbrough at the 2:48 mark of the first quarter. Dallas rallied to take a 14-13 lead on a running layup by Kalani Brown with 1:18 remaining before Washington reeled off the final five points of the period.
The Wings broke away from a 24-24 tie with a 7-2 run capped by an Odyssey Sims 3-pointer with 2:20 to play in the first half. Dallas led 37-33 at the break.
Sabally led the Wings with 12 points and eight rebounds in the first half while Howard scored 10 points. Dallas outshot the visitors 50 percent to 33.3 percent over the first 20 minutes of play, had a 24-10 edge in points in the paint and held a 24-14 advantage on the glass.
Atkins paced all scorers with 15 points before halftime. No other Washington player had more than seven points. The Mystics used their defense to stay in the game, forcing Dallas into 11 turnovers in the half.
The Wings took charge in the third quarter. Ogunbowale, who was scoreless in the first half, reeled off 15 points in the period, capped by a three-point play with 30.7 seconds remaining to stoke Dallas’ lead to 67-49.
–Field Level Media
