Wings vs. Sun: Paige Bueckers Scores 11 of Her 25 in the Fourth as Dallas Steals One in Hartford

Hartford came to see Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, former UConn stars and the No. 1 picks Dallas used in the last two WNBA drafts, and for most of Thursday night they looked like they were going to hand the crowd a souvenir loss. Then the fourth quarter arrived, Dallas scored 31 points in it, and Bueckers took the whole thing over.

She scored 11 of her 25 in the period, finished with seven rebounds and seven assists, and the Dallas Wings wiped out a 14-point hole to beat the Connecticut Sun 86-83 at PeoplesBank Arena. The announced crowd of 14,578 got the star power it paid for, just not until very late.

Sun Up, Then Sundown

Dallas led 16-15 late in the first quarter, and that was the last time the Wings would be in front for a very long while. Connecticut closed the period and opened the next on an 11-0 run, finished off by a pair of Charlisse Leger-Walker jumpers, to make it 26-16 with 8:25 left in the half. It was 43-35 at the break.

The Sun pushed it to 14 in the third on a Brittney Griner bucket, and she ended the period by blocking Odyssey Sims to preserve a 62-55 lead. The building in Hartford was having a perfectly nice time watching the home team handle its visitors. Connecticut still led 74-68 with 3:58 to go.

Then the game went sideways. Jessica Shepard drove for a layup, Bueckers got to the rim for another, and it was a one-possession fight. Leila Lacan made two free throws, Bueckers answered with a three-point play at 2:15, and Aaliyah Edwards responded with a layup for 78-75. That's when Li Yueru, who attempted one shot all night, took a Sims pass and buried a 23-footer to tie it at 78 with 1:51 left.

The Step-Back That Flipped the Night

Li's 3 set the table, and Bueckers ate. She rose for an 18-foot step-back with 1:17 left, drew the foul, and watched it fall, giving Dallas its first lead since that 16-15 edge in the first quarter. The free throw made it 81-78.

Edwards wasn't done, and her own three-point play tied it at 81. Fudd, on a miserable shooting night, picked the right time to hit a 15-foot pullup at 51.7. Edwards tied it again with a driving layup at 38.1. Bueckers then got one to fall at the line with 25.9 left for 84-83.

Connecticut had the ball and the last good look. Lacan ran the clock down and went to the rim, and her attempt spun out. Shepard grabbed the rebound and made both free throws with 2.9 left, and the Sun could not even get a 3 up before the horn. Ballgame.

The Stars, and the Surprises

Bueckers went 9-of-14 from the field, 2-of-5 from 3 and 5-of-6 at the line in 37 minutes. That's nine points in the final 3:08, her fourth straight game with at least 25, and a plus-11 despite four turnovers and five fouls. The closing stretch had the unbothered quality you see from players who have spent a lot of time being the last shot in big buildings.

Shepard scored 14 on 6-of-10 shooting, and the final rebound was the biggest of her six. Alanna Smith gave Dallas 11 off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting, and Li finished plus-9 in just 10 minutes. Fudd had a rough one at 4 points on 2-of-7 with five turnovers, but she also had five assists and the shot at 51.7, which will be the part she remembers. Arike Ogunbowale's nine points all came on 3s, on 3-of-9 from deep.

Lacan led Connecticut with 18 points, five assists and three steals, though she needed 14 shots. Griner had 13 points and 11 rebounds, her first double-double of the season according to the team. Leger-Walker added 14 on 5-of-8 shooting, Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 11 and eight boards, and Edwards came off the bench for 11, seven of those in the final 2:02. She kept giving the Sun answers. They just ran out of time to use them.

The fouls piled up on both sides, with Griner, Edwards and Diamond Miller all finishing with five for Connecticut and Bueckers ending with five of her own. Dallas needed her on the floor for that entire closing stretch, and she never picked up a sixth, which is easy to overlook on a night she kept attacking the rim.

Stats That Matter

• 31-21: Dallas' margin in the fourth quarter, after trailing at the end of each of the first three.
• 22-of-35: Connecticut at the line. That's 13 missed free throws in a three-point loss, and no number on this page hurts more.
• 9-of-26: Dallas from 3, against 3-of-9 for the Sun, an 18-point gap. Connecticut barely looked at the arc, and on a night when 19 extra free-throw attempts produced only 11 extra points, it needed those shots.
• 11-5: The Sun's edge on the offensive glass, to go with a 42-38 advantage in the paint that kept them in front for so long.
• 29-24: Dallas' bench advantage, with Smith, Maddy Siegrist and Li doing most of the damage.

What It Means

Dallas is 12-8 and 6-5 on the road, and this ended a two-game skid after losses to Las Vegas and Minnesota. The next stop is Toronto on Sunday.

Connecticut falls to 4-16 and 3-8 at home. The Sun had just beaten Chicago and Washington to win two straight, and they led this one for most of the night, which makes the final three minutes that much harder to swallow. They travel to Minnesota on Monday.

Upstaged at Their Own Show

The Sun put on an excellent opening act in Hartford and then got upstaged by the headliners. That's the risk when you book a night around somebody else's stars: eventually they walk out and play the encore.

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