SAN ANTONIO, TX– It was a milestone night, as head coach Fred Williams led the Wings to a 92-84 victory to record his 100th career as a WNBA head coach. Tonight’s win also snapped an 11-game losing streak for the Wings. The last time the Wings were in the win column was on July 5 when they defeated the Phoenix Mercury in front of a home crowd.
The Wings took command of the game three minutes into the first quarter after Skylar Diggins hit a jump shot to give Dallas a 6-4 lead. Following Diggins’ basket, the Wings went strong allowing the Stars to only get to within eight, to finish the night with their 10th win of the season.
Odyssey Sims led the night, scoring 20 points. It was the seventh time this season she has scored 20 points or more in a game. Sims ended the night shooting 76.9 percent from the free throw line going 10-for-13.
Courtney Paris also had a big night recording her sixth double-double for the season. Defensively Paris grabbed 10 boards, tying a season high, and 11 overall grabs.
Three other Wings hit double digits tonight. Skylar Diggins scored 16 points for the night, while Aerial Powers scored 13 and Karima Christmas registered 11.
The Wings return to Arlington for their final home game on September 11 when they face the New York Liberty for Fan Appreciation Day. Fans can still purchase tickets by logging onto www.dallaswingsbasketball.com
DALLAS WINGS POST GAME NOTES
•The Wings snapped an 11-game losing streak defeating the stars 92-84. Dallas’ 12-point lead throughout most of the game is the longest lead streak for the team during a game this season. The last win the Wings recorded was back on July 5, against Phoenix in Arlington with a score of 77-74.
•With tonight’s win Head Coach Fred Williams recorded his 100th career win as a WNBA head coach.
•Courtney Paris recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 boards. Tonight’s 11 defensive rebounds broke a season high for Paris.
•Odyssey Sims dropped 20 points tonight, reaching double-digit scoring for the 23rd time this season. She did it going (5-11) from the field and 10-for-13 from the free throw line. She has hit the 20-point mark seven times this season.
•Skylar Diggins 16 points, is the 12th time she has scored double figures for the season. Diggins was 5-for-14 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
DALLAS WING POSTGAME QUOTES
WINGS HEAD COACH FRED WILLIAMS
(On the game…)
“It was, I thought, a real physical game for one. I thought with us jumping out to a lead gave us a little cushion to apply more defensive pressure on the perimeter. We just came down and made some big plays at the end.”
(On how the team was able to score in the paint…)
“I thought dribble penetration, passing the ball one extra pass, we got a better shot. I preach that a lot in the huddle to the team. I thought that Courtney Paris and Karima Christmas got some drives to the rim to either get some free throws or at least get a shot.”
(On the team’s interior defense…)
“Just rotating over, you know? I think helping the helper helped a lot tonight. I used that concept a lot, and I thought it really clicked in with this unit tonight.”
CENTER COURTNEY PARIS 11 POINTS 11 REBOUNDS
(On the game…)
“It was tough. San Antonio kept fighting and kept going back and forth, but I thought we just stuck in there in the end and got the win.”
(On if screens are an aspect of her game she takes pride in…)
“Yeah, it is. Also, when you have as good of guards as we do working off the screens it’s easy to do. We just try to do whatever it takes to get our team into victory.”
(On getting blocked shots…)
“I think part of it with them is they’re such an aggressive team to the basket, so those opportunities are going to be there more. They capitalized off of it too. They got some shots, but we got the opportunity to block more shots because they were aggressive at the basket.”