Arlington, TX – The Dallas Wings are set to travel east for back-to-back games against the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever the weekend. The Wings will face the Liberty first this Friday, for their first showdown of the season, at Madison Square Garden. It will be the only time they will play against them in the Big Apple.
FACING THE LIBERTY
Friday night’s matchup will mark as the 62nd time that both franchises will meet, and fourth time since the Wings moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Wings are scheduled to face the Liberty three times this season. They will start off the series in the Big Apple, and then host twice at home.
Overall, the Wings own the series between the Liberty, 32-29. When travelling to the big city they are 8-22 overall. Last season they went 0-2 in New York, and took the win on their home court in the final game of the series, 84-81.
Karima Christmas-Kelly led the team in scoring last season scoring a total of 48 points (16 ppg), recording season highs in two of three games (6/14 & 9/11).
TEAM STATS
The Wings are now 3-2 (.666) for the 2017 season.
Tonight’s game vs New York, marks the second straight game the Wings will face an eastern opponent with a 2-3 record.
This season the Wings are 1-0 over teams that are 2-3.
Defensively the Wings rank in the top five overall in the league.
In steals the team is fifth, averaging 7.8 take aways per game.
ROOKIE SPOTLIGHT
The Dynamic duo of Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray marks as the most successful rookie campaign in the WNBA. Currently they are ranked as the two top scorers in the league for all rookies. Combined, the two are averaging 24.0 points per game. Together they rank one and two in scoring average and minutes amongst rookie leaders
MILESTONE SEASON
Karima Christmas-Kelly notched a new career high against Indiana on May 30. The veteran recorded a total of 27 point, defeating her current high of 24 points, that she recorded in July of 2015. She also set a new career high in field goals made with 10, that also occurred against her former team, Indiana on May 30. Christmas-Kelly leads the team in scoring averaging 13.6 points per game.
Glory Johnson recorded a personal milestone recording her 1000th total rebound vs Indiana on May 30. Coming into the season, she was 44 boards shy of the mark, and just eight walking into this past Tuesday’s game. She is the second Wings player on the team that has recorded such a mark, along with Courtney Paris who has 1350, and is fifth in franchise history among rebound leaders.
Karima Christmas-Kelly and Skylar Diggins-Smith scored their 1500th WNBA point against San Antonio on May 25. It was the second time in league history a veteran duo reached the same multiple-of-500 career points milestone with more than 1000 career points in the same game. The last time this occured was in August 9, 2011 (MIN at PHO) when MIN teammates Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen both reached 3000 career point. It is also the first time in W history that two teammates with hyphenated last names reached the milestone in the same game.
WATCH US WORK
Friday night’s game against New York will be seen on the WNBA’s league pass, and on New York’s MSG Network.
The Wings will hit the road for an east coast showdown staring Friday, June 2, with New York then Indiana in back-to-back games. The Wings will return home for a three-game home stint staring June 6, that includes a face-off against the 2016 WNBA Champions Los Angeles Sparks. Season ticket packages and individual tickets are available. Fans can get theirs by calling 817.469.9464 or by visiting dallaswings.com.