Wings vs. Valkyries: Arike Ogunbowale Scores WNBA Playoff-Record 45 Points in First Round Game 2 OT Win

Arike Ogunbowale had one shot to keep Dallas' season breathing, and it was not a pretty one. Down three with 4.1 seconds left in regulation, she let fly an off-balance 3 from the corner. Paige Bueckers made the pass. Ogunbowale made the shot. Tie game, 93-93, and a series that looked like a Golden State formality suddenly had a plot twist.

Then she kept going. Ogunbowale finished with a WNBA playoff-record 45 points, and the Dallas Wings outlasted the Golden State Valkyries 108-100 in overtime on Wednesday night at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, tying their best-of-three first-round series 1-1. Game 3 is Friday in San Francisco.

Fifteen Lead Changes and Zero Exhales

There were 15 lead changes, and neither team ever led by more than eight. Golden State, the No. 2 seed, spent 62 percent of the night in front and led 26-23 after one quarter, even after Dallas used an 8-0 burst to erase a 21-13 hole.

The Wings won the second quarter 27-19 to take a 50-45 halftime lead. The Valkyries flipped it right back with a 29-22 third quarter and carried a 74-72 edge into the fourth, which became an arm wrestle. Janelle Salaun's 21-foot jumper put Golden State up 85-84 with 4:47 left, and Kaila Charles followed with a running layup. Gabby Williams hit a 14-foot pull-up at 1:26, then made four free throws in the final 1:02. When the last two dropped with 14.6 seconds left, the Valkyries led 93-90 and had their semifinal reservation half-printed. Then came the corner 3, and then came chaos.

Replay, a Jump Ball and a Bank Shot

After a Golden State timeout, Williams was called for an offensive foul on the inbound, a whistle that would have sent Aziaha James to the line with a chance to give Dallas the lead. Replay reversed it. That left the officials tossing up a jump ball at midcourt with 3.0 seconds on the clock. After a scramble for the loose ball, the Valkyries' desperation heave was way off target and came after the buzzer anyway.

Overtime was the Arike Show. She opened it by banking in a 28-foot 3, the kind of shot that only happens in sports movies. Williams answered with a driving layup and a 26-foot 3 to tie it at 98. Ogunbowale and Tiffany Hayes made contact and had to be pulled apart, the officials hit both with flagrant fouls, and each sank a pair of free throws at 2:26 to leave it 100-100.

Golden State never scored again. Ogunbowale buried a 24-foot step-back 3 with 1:46 left to put Dallas ahead for good, Alysha Clark made two free throws, and Ogunbowale closed it out at the line. The Valkyries shot 2 of 12 in the extra period, per the AP.

Arike Ogunbowale, Main Character

The full line is absurd: 45 points on 12-of-23 shooting, 5 of 8 from 3 and 16 of 18 at the line, plus seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in 42 minutes. Twenty-two of her points came after the third quarter, 11 in the fourth and 11 more in overtime. According to the AP, her previous playoff high was 24, which she passed with a 3 midway through the fourth, and her best in any game was 41, which she topped with the step-back that put Dallas up for good.

The free throws made it more than a heat check: 16 makes on a night Golden State was called for 28 fouls. Yes, she also had five turnovers. No, nobody in Arlington cares.

Clark was the perfect co-star, scoring 21 off the bench on 6-of-7 shooting, 3 of 4 from deep and 6 of 6 at the line. The AP said that tied her playoff career high. James added 13 on 4-of-5 shooting and posted a game-best plus-19.

That support mattered because Bueckers, the 2025 No. 1 overall pick and Rookie of the Year, had a rough postseason debut as a scorer, shooting 3 of 13 for 10 points. She still played 43 minutes and set up both the tying 3 in regulation and the bank shot that opened overtime. Jessica Shepard added eight rebounds and six assists.

Gabby Williams Deserved a Better Ending

Lost in the Ogunbowale fireworks: Williams' 36 points were a career high, counting both regular season and playoffs, per the AP. She shot 12 of 23, went 5 of 12 from 3 and 7 of 7 at the line, and added six rebounds, seven assists and three steals. She was the reason Golden State led late. The brutal footnote: she went 0 for 6 over the last 1:31 of overtime.

Charles scored 14, Kayla Thornton had 13 on 3-of-4 shooting from deep, and Salaun and Veronica Burton added 11 apiece. Burton and Charles both fouled out. Cecilia Zandalasini, who led the Valkyries with 22 in the opener, got just three shots and finished with five points.

Where Golden State Let It Slip

It was the final 22.5 seconds of regulation. Golden State led 91-88 and then 93-90, needing one stop to move on. It never got it. Ogunbowale scored five points in that window, first at the rim and then from the corner, and once overtime started, the Wings played like a team that knew it had already escaped once and was not about to waste it.

The Numbers Behind Arike's Night

• 32 of 37: Dallas at the free-throw line, compared with 20 of 23 for Golden State.
• 12 of 23: The Wings from 3-point range, a 52 percent clip.
• 15-7: Dallas' margin in overtime, capped by an 8-0 run.
• 0: Golden State points after the 2:26 mark of overtime.
• 29-29: The rebounding battle. Nobody won the glass. One team had Arike.

Suddenly, a Series

The series is tied 1-1, and the Wings are very much alive. This was also Dallas' first win over Golden State in 2026. The Valkyries had won the first four meetings, three in the regular season and Sunday's 104-80 rout in Game 1. Dallas, the seventh seed, won seven of its last eight regular-season games to get here, so it is not exactly allergic to momentum.

For Golden State, the stakes are franchise-sized. The second-year Valkyries are trying to advance in the playoffs for the first time, and they get to do it Friday at Chase Center, where they won the opener by 24.

Final Boss Energy

Every video game has that final boss who drops to zero health and then stands back up with a second life bar. That was Ogunbowale on Wednesday. Golden State still has home court and a star in Williams coming off the highest-scoring game of her career. It also has two days to figure out how to guard a player who made the improbable look routine.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press via WNBA.com.