Wings vs. Liberty: Azzi Fudd's 17-Point Third Quarter Spoils Sabrina Ionescu's Season Debut in a 91-76 Win

Barclays Center was sold out for a comeback story. Sabrina Ionescu was finally back after missing New York's first five games, 17,622 people were in the building on Sunday afternoon, and for a quarter and a half the script held up nicely. Then Azzi Fudd walked out of the locker room, missed one 3 and made the next five.

Seventeen of Fudd's 24 points came in the third quarter, which matched New York's entire output for the period. Paige Bueckers also had 24, and the Dallas Wings spoiled Ionescu's season debut with a 91-76 win over the Liberty.

The Return Had a Good First Act

New York started like a team that had been waiting for this. The Liberty opened on an 11-2 run that forced a Dallas timeout with 7:42 left in the first, Ionescu got going right away with four quick points, and she was already finding her former Oregon teammate Satou Sabally. It was 20-17 after one.

Ionescu's deep 3 with 5:11 left in the half made it 35-27 and felt like the start of something. It was actually the end of something. Those were her last points of the afternoon.

Dallas spent the rest of the half chipping away, closing on a 12-9 run behind Arike Ogunbowale, who had four 3s and 13 points at the break. New York still led 44-43, and it had turned just five Wings turnovers into 11 points. For a team that had been outplayed for long stretches, Dallas had to feel pretty good about one point.

Five in a Row

The third quarter was a takeover in the most literal sense. Dallas went up 52-49 early, and Sabally's free throws made it 52-51. Then came the 11-0 run that broke the game: three straight 3s from Fudd and an Awak Kuier basket, all in a little over two minutes, for a 63-51 lead. Fudd later banked one in to make it 66-53 with 3:15 left, the kind of shot that tells a defense what kind of day it's going to be.

The Wings made seven 3s in the quarter and won it 28-17. According to the team, New York went without a field goal from the 7:58 mark to the 2:29 mark. It was 71-61 going to the fourth.

The Liberty never really got back in it. An 8-2 start to the final period pushed the lead to 16 at 79-63, with Bueckers and Fudd each hitting from deep. Jonquel Jones scored five straight to make it 79-68 with 6:57 left, but New York never got closer than nine. Bueckers took care of the rest, scoring 11 of her 24 in the fourth, including all eight of her free throws. Jessica Shepard added two late baskets, and that was your ballgame.

Rookie Math

Fudd, the No. 1 pick in April, came off the bench and put up a career-best 24 on 9-of-15 shooting, including 6-of-12 from 3, with three steals, two blocks and a game-high plus-22 in 32 minutes. The team's notes are where it gets fun. Her 17 in the third ties for second on the list of rookie scoring quarters since the WNBA went to quarters in 2006, and it's the biggest by any rookie since Rhyne Howard on May 15, 2022. Her six 3s were the most by a rookie in Wings history.

Bueckers was the steady half of the duo: 7-of-13 from the field, 8-of-8 at the line and a season-high six rebounds. Ogunbowale's 19 came with an asterisk, on 5-of-20 shooting with every make from behind the arc, but she also had five assists. Per the team, her five 3s and Fudd's six made this just the third game in Wings history, and the 30th in league history, with two teammates hitting at least five.

Shepard quietly ran the middle with 10 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for her fourth double-double of the year, and Kuier gave Dallas 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks in 24 minutes off the bench.

For New York, Ionescu finished with 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds on 4-of-15 shooting in her first game since a preseason foot injury. Sabally scored a team-high 20 in just her second game with the Liberty. Breanna Stewart had 14 and 11 but needed 18 shots, Jones added 14, and Marine Johannes went scoreless on 0-of-3 despite five assists.

The Math That Beat New York

The 11-0 run is the obvious turning point, but look at what it did to the rest of the box score. New York won the paint 40-20, took four more offensive rebounds and scored 15 off Dallas' turnovers to the Wings' six the other way. Those are winning numbers.

Then you get to the arc. Dallas went 15-of-35 from 3, a season high in makes, while New York went 8-of-26. That's a 21-point swing, which erased the paint advantage almost exactly. The tiebreaker was everything else: a 38-17 bench edge and a 17-10 lead in fast-break points. Fudd alone outscored the entire Liberty bench.

The Numbers That Stuck

• 17-17: Azzi Fudd vs. the New York Liberty, third quarter.
• 45-24: Points from 3-point range, Dallas.
• 40-20: New York's paint advantage, canceled out by the line above.
• 38-17: Bench scoring, Wings.
• 4-of-15: Ionescu from the field in her season debut.

Where Everybody Stands

Dallas moves to 4-3 and 3-1 on the road, bouncing back from Friday's 86-69 loss in Atlanta. The team says it's the Wings' first road win in Brooklyn over the Liberty since July 19, 2023. Las Vegas comes to Dallas on Thursday.

New York sits at 3-3 and 1-2 at home with two straight losses, following the 87-70 defeat to Golden State. There's no time to brood, because Portland is in town on Monday for the second half of a back-to-back.

The Guest Star Took the Episode

Every long-running show has this one. The lead returns after a few weeks away, the whole audience tunes in, and the first act goes exactly as promised. Then a guest star wanders into the third act and walks off with the entire episode. Ionescu will have better days, and New York will get to enjoy them. Sunday belonged to the rookie who came off the bench, missed one 3 and then decided she was done missing.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game notes from the Dallas Wings. Game context as reported by the Associated Press.