Wings vs. Mystics: Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd Lead Dallas to First Home Win of the Season, 92-69

Washington showed up in Arlington three days removed from dropping 104 on Indiana. Then it scored nine points in the first quarter. Nine, on 2-of-10 shooting with eight turnovers, in the kind of opening 10 minutes that makes a coach stare at a clipboard like it owes them money.

The Dallas Wings ran the Washington Mystics out of College Park Center 92-69 on Monday night, with Paige Bueckers running the show (18 points, seven assists) and Azzi Fudd pouring in a career-high 12 off the bench. It took three tries, but Dallas finally has a home win.

A Half Spent Handing Over the Ball

The Wings did not need long. An 8-0 burst midway through the first turned an 8-5 game into 16-5, and by the end of the period it was 19-9, with 12 Dallas points coming directly off those eight Washington turnovers. Per the Wings, nine points is tied for the fewest by any team in a quarter this season.

Washington steadied itself in the second and even won that quarter 20-19, so Dallas went to the break up only 38-29. That margin flattered the Mystics. They had 13 turnovers by halftime, and the Wings had 17 points off them. Dallas also collected seven offensive rebounds to one before the intermission, which made a nine-point lead look small for how the half had actually gone.

Arike Ogunbowale got hot early in the third and the lead was 51-40 at the 4:16 mark. After that, the Mystics ran out of answers.

The Third Quarter Took the Air Out

The game ended somewhere in a 19-6 Dallas run to close the third. It left the Wings up 66-46, and the fourth opened with Dallas outscoring Washington 7-2 to make it 73-48, the largest lead of the night. Washington never got within 19 the rest of the way.

Everything after that belonged to the end of the bench. Aziaha James scored all eight of her points in the final 2:06, and Lucy Olsen hit three jumpers in the last 4:02 for Washington on her way to 8 points on 3-of-3 shooting. She was also the only Mystic who finished with a positive plus-minus, at plus-1. That is a lonely stat.

Four Different Ways to Hurt You

Bueckers was the conductor. She went 7-of-12, 4-of-5 from three for a season high in makes, and handed out seven assists against one turnover, while her nine teammates combined to shoot 7-of-19 from deep. The Wings have her at nine straight games of 15-plus points and two-plus assists, and they call that the longest active streak in the WNBA.

Fudd, the top pick in the draft, gave Dallas the kind of night you hope for from a rookie: 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting, three assists and a plus-20 in 24 minutes. Not one of those points came from three. She just kept finding places to score.

Then there was Jessica Shepard, who may have been the most interesting player in the building. She had 12 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers in 27 minutes. The 16 boards matched the league's high for a single game this season, shared with Angel Reese. The Wings add that it was Shepard's first double-double of the season, the 20th of her career, and that only six players in WNBA history have put up at least 12 points, 16 rebounds and six assists with zero turnovers, Shepard now among them.

Ogunbowale scored 16 with three steals and a 6-of-6 night at the line, and Maddy Siegrist added 10 off the bench. For Washington, Shakira Austin led with 12 but committed four turnovers. Lauren Betts scored 11 off the bench on 5-of-7, and Kiki Iriafen had nine points and 10 rebounds. Sonia Citron and Cotie McMahon combined for nine turnovers, and McMahon's minus-23 was the worst figure on either side.

The depth gap was real too. Five Wings reached double figures, and none of them needed more than 12 shots to get there. Dallas's reserves outscored Washington's 43-31, with Awak Kuier the quiet difference at nine points, four assists, three steals and a block in 20 minutes. Georgia Amoore, meanwhile, went 1-of-6 for three points, and Washington never found the kind of steady hand it needed once the turnovers started piling up. Cassandre Prosper gave the Mystics 25 minutes off the bench and scored six.

The Numbers That Mattered

• 70-49: Field-goal attempts. Washington shot 49% and it barely mattered, because Dallas got 21 more shots.
• 23-11: Dallas in points off turnovers, with the Mystics giving it away 19 times in total.
• 30: Wings assists on 33 made baskets, a season high that, per the team, ranks fifth in Wings history for a regular-season game.
• 11-2: Dallas in offensive rebounds.
• 13-3: Dallas in fast-break points.

Back to Even, and Back on the Road

Both teams sit at 2-2 after this. Dallas snapped a two-game slide and improved to 1-2 at home, closing a three-game homestand on a good note before a three-game road trip starts Wednesday in Chicago. The assists are the part worth carrying with them: this was the third time in four games the Wings have reached 20.

Washington is still 2-1 on the road, which is a nice number to look at after a night like this. The Mystics get a long breather before heading to Seattle for back-to-back games against the Storm, beginning Sunday. That leaves plenty of time to review the turnovers, and there are enough of them to fill the whole week.

Michael Scott Was Right

You miss every shot you don't take. Wayne Gretzky said it, Michael Scott put his own name under it, and the Mystics spent Monday night proving both of them right. They made nearly half their shots. They just kept handing the ball to Dallas before they could take any more of them, and a shooting percentage is not much of a consolation when the other team gets 21 extra tries.

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