Wings vs. Aces: Arike Ogunbowale's 22 Fuel a 96-66 Rout That Snaps Las Vegas' Six-Game Win Streak

The Las Vegas Aces showed up in Arlington on a six-game winning streak, unbeaten in Commissioner's Cup play and fresh off three straight games with at least 100 points. Then they ran into a Dallas team that moved the ball like it was trying to win a bet.

The Wings won 96-66 on Monday night at a sold-out College Park Center, and the margin is the part that will follow Las Vegas around. According to Dallas, 30 points is the largest Wings win in the history of the series. It was also the Wings' fifth straight victory at home, and it came with a brand-new starting five that looked like it had been together for years.

Seventeen Straight and a Whole Lot of Passing

Dallas had never started this particular group all season: Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd with Arike Ogunbowale, plus Jessica Shepard and Awak Kuier, who was making her first start as a Wing since Sept. 5, 2023. The group needed no getting-to-know-you period. Shepard piled up 10 points, four rebounds and four assists in the opening quarter alone, Dallas shot 62.5 percent, and an Aziaha James steal and layup made it 29-20 after one.

Then came the avalanche. From 35-26 with 7:26 left in the second, the Wings scored 17 straight, with four consecutive 3s in the mix, seven points from Fudd and two long balls from Ogunbowale. By the 4:01 mark it was 52-26. The lead peaked at 28 with 3:13 to go before the half. Along the way Dallas assisted on 18 of its first 20 baskets, which is less an offense than a group chat where everybody replies.

Las Vegas answered with nine straight to get within 56-37 at the half and scored the first two points after the break as well, and the Wings went six minutes without a field goal. Bueckers ended that with a 3 for a 59-39 lead, the last moment of mild concern for anyone in blue. A 9-0 run between 6:49 and 5:22 of the third made it 68-41. Dallas never led by fewer than 10 in the second half, and it was 74-53 going to the fourth.

The fourth was mostly a coronation. Sug Sutton, signed only a day earlier, scored her first basket as a Wing with 2:53 left. James finished things with a three-point play at the 36.1 mark for the final score, reaching double figures off the bench in the process.

One Assist Short of Another Triple-Double

Shepard's 15 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists came in 31 minutes, with 13 of those boards on the defensive end, and she sat for good with 4:41 left. One more assist would have been her third triple-double of the season, per the team, and the double-double she settled for was her ninth, tying Angel Reese for the WNBA lead this season. If Las Vegas is seeing her in its sleep, that is fair: she had 22 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in the 95-87 Dallas win on May 28.

Ogunbowale did the scoring, with 22 points on five 3s, seven assists, zero turnovers and a plus-25. Fudd was absurdly efficient, going 8-of-9 from the field for 19 points, a career-best shooting percentage according to the team. Bueckers had 10 points and seven assists without a turnover. With Shepard, Ogunbowale and Bueckers all at seven or more assists, Dallas did something the team says it had done only once before in franchise history, on July 17, 2024. Kuier's line was modest at seven points, but she led everybody at plus-26.

For Las Vegas, the cold spots were everywhere. Chelsea Gray, who had just tied a WNBA record for 3s over a two-game span, went scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting in 29 minutes, though she did hand out nine assists. Jackie Young needed 13 shots to score six. A'ja Wilson had 18, which sounds fine until you remember the Aces had her at 11 consecutive games with at least 20 coming in. Jewell Loyd's 21 points and five 3s off the bench were the only real fireworks, and she still finished minus-17.

The Three Minutes That Ended It

Las Vegas was down nine early in the second, which is nothing for a team that had won six straight. Then the Aces' offense stalled, and Dallas punished every miss and giveaway at the other end. Those three and a half minutes erased all the drama, and the rest of the night was Las Vegas fighting to keep it respectable. The Wings also refused to give anything back. They turned 14 Aces turnovers into 18 points while coughing it up just eight times, a season low per the team, which led to only eight Las Vegas points.

Stats That Matter

• 30: Dallas assists on 35 made field goals, with three players at seven or more.
• .397: Las Vegas' field-goal percentage, a season low, per the Wings. The 66 points tied the Aces' lowest total of the year.
• 10-of-28: Dallas from 3-point range, against 5-of-21 for Las Vegas, with every Aces make coming from Loyd.
• 41-31: The Wings' edge on the glass.
• 12-5: Dallas' advantage in fast-break points.

What It Means

Dallas is 9-5 overall and 5-2 at home. The Wings have now beaten the Aces twice this season, which the team says had not happened since 2018, when they took all three meetings. Those two games also account for half of the Aces' losses.

Las Vegas dropped to 10-4, and its 7-2 road record comes with an odd asterisk: both defeats happened in this building. The loss also delayed any clinching in the Commissioner's Cup. Per the AP, the Aces needed only to beat Dallas on Monday or Phoenix on Wednesday to lock up the Western Conference spot, so Wednesday in Phoenix is now their chance to finish the job. Dallas plays at Golden State the same night.

Seven road wins, two road losses, and both of those losses share a zip code. Las Vegas can walk into almost any gym in this league and feel at home. College Park Center is the one address where the GPS should politely suggest another route.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game notes from the Dallas Wings and Las Vegas Aces. Additional details as reported by the Associated Press.