Wings vs. Sparks: Bueckers Scores 25 Before Late Collision Forces Her Out as Dallas Wins Sixth Straight

The scoreboard said 80-76 Dallas with about three and a half minutes left on Sunday when the game stopped mattering for a while. Nneka Ogwumike got fouled running the floor, lost her balance on the way down and crashed into Paige Bueckers. Both players stayed on the court for a couple of minutes. Ogwumike eventually got up and kept playing. Bueckers appeared to take the impact on the back of her head, walked to the locker room and did not come back.

The Wings finished the job anyway, beating the Los Angeles Sparks 90-82 at College Park Center for their sixth straight win. Bueckers had 25 points before she left. Arike Ogunbowale took the keys from there and scored six more to put it away, in a game that ended with a lot more relief than celebration.

A Lot of Punches Before the Big One

This was a real fight for most of the afternoon. Los Angeles jumped out 4-0 before Dallas answered with nine straight, and the Wings closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run for a 27-17 lead. Bueckers and Azzi Fudd had six apiece after one, and it looked like the Sparks might be in for another long road day.

They weren't. LA won the second quarter 23-19 to get within 46-40 at the half, then got hot early in the third. A 9-0 run turned a 50-42 deficit into a 51-50 lead with 5:42 to go, with Ogwumike getting the go-ahead bucket. It lasted about as long as a TikTok trend. Dallas went on a 14-7 burst capped by a Li Yueru and-one, and took a 68-63 lead into the fourth.

Bueckers opened that quarter with a three that made it 71-63, and the two teams spent the next several minutes trading haymakers. LA got as close as 72-68, Dallas pushed it to 78-72, and Dearica Hamby's running layup at 4:06 made it a four-point game again. Then came the collision.

Bueckers Was Cooking Before It Ended Early

Before all that, this was shaping up as another Bueckers showcase. She had 12 points at halftime and nine in the fourth quarter alone, finishing 10 of 18 from the field with four rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes. By the team's count, nobody in the league has more games this season with 25 points and five assists than her seven, and nobody has more fourth-quarter points than her 147.

Ogunbowale scored 20 on 7-of-13 shooting, and eight of those came in the fourth. Her last two buckets, an 18-foot pull-up with 57.5 seconds left and a two with 29 seconds left, took the air out of everything LA had left.

Jessica Shepard was the engine room again, playing 38 minutes with 11 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. It was her 16th double-double of the year, which the team lists as a Wings single-season record and second in the league behind Angel Reese. Fudd added 11 points with three made threes and three steals.

For LA, Ogwumike deserves real credit for finishing this game at all. She had 17 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting. Hamby had 16 on 8-of-12 before ending the day with six fouls. Cameron Brink scored 10 with three blocks, and Erica Wheeler handed out 10 assists, though her 0-for-5 from three didn't help.

The Three Minutes After

Here's the part of this game that should get talked about more. Dallas had just lost its best player in frightening fashion, with the lead at four and plenty of time left, and it had every excuse to get shaky. Instead, Odyssey Sims came off the bench and ran the place.

Sims hit a driving layup at 3:08 to make it 82-76. Ogunbowale scored at 2:39. Ariel Atkins hit a 28-foot three to pull LA within five, and Sims found Shepard for a layup. Rae Burrell answered with a 26-footer that made it 86-82 with 1:30 to go, which was as close as the Sparks would get. Then Sims found Ogunbowale for the pull-up, and Ogunbowale added one more for good measure. LA did not score again after Burrell's three.

Sims finished with seven points and six assists in 17 minutes. Anyone who has watched The Bear knows every kitchen needs a sous chef who can run the line when things go sideways. "Yes, chef" was the entire vibe.

Stats That Matter

• 17-10: Second-chance points for Dallas, built on a 10-5 edge in offensive rebounds. Bueckers had three of those boards herself.
• 15 of 19: Dallas at the line, against 10 of 11 for LA. Five extra points in an eight-point game.
• 19-14: Points off turnovers, in LA's favor. The Wings gave it away 17 times and still won, which tells you how much the glass mattered.
• 50-44: The Sparks in the paint. They got what they wanted inside and just could not finish the job.

What It Means

Dallas moves to 17-8 and 8-3 at home, with eight wins in its last 10 games. Six in a row is a new season best after last Sunday's five, and it's the longest streak the team has had since moving to Texas. The Wings are also 2-0 against LA after a 104-96 win on June 5, the first time since 2021 they've taken two from the Sparks in one season.

Los Angeles falls to 10-15 and 5-8 on the road, and this fourth straight loss caps a run of four straight away from home. The Sparks at least get to go home now, with Phoenix visiting on Wednesday.

Dallas doesn't get that luxury. The Wings host New York on Monday in a makeup of a postponed game, and coach Jose Fernandez had no immediate update on Bueckers after this one, though the team expected to know more later Sunday.

The Takeaway

A six-game winning streak is supposed to be the headline. On Sunday it was the second story at best. The Wings proved they can close a tight game without their star for three and a half minutes, which is genuinely useful information for a team with real ambitions. Nobody in Arlington wants to run that experiment any longer than they have to. The number everyone in Dallas is waiting on now won't be on any scoreboard.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press. Season notes from the Dallas Wings' game recap.