The Dallas Wings recorded a win tonight as they hosted the Seattle Storm. Dallas recorded their fourth win of the season and broke a six-game losing streak with a score of 88-79.
Karima Christmas and Odyssey Sims led the team for the night, each scoring 17 points.
In the middle of the third, the Wings took over the lead after the Storm tied it up six minutes into the quarter. Karima Christmas and Aerial Powers led the team scoring seven each to give the Wings a 10-point lead.
Two other Dallas Wings scored double figures. Courtney Paris recorded her second straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. It is her third double-double for the season. Aerial Powers recorded 13.
Breanna Stewart led the night for the Seattle Storm scoring 29 points, while Crystal Langhorne brought in 16.
The Wings will head to Phoenix this weekend as they take on the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday, June 18. The Wings will return home the following week for a three-game homestand as they welcome the Phoenix Mercury on June 21, the Stan Antonio Stars on June 23 and the Indiana Fever, June 25. Tickets are still available for purchase at www.dallaswingsbasketball.com.
Dallas Wings Postgame Notes
-Dallas opened the game with a 13-4 run where all five starters scored. The Wings first miss from the field did not come until the 6:11 mark of the first quarter (5-5).
-Six Wings players shot higher than 50 percent from the field as the Wings had their highest shooting percentage of the season (.524) (Previous high- .431 vs. San Antonio on 5/21).
-Courtney Paris recorded her second straight double-double and fourth of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. It is the third time the seventh-year center has reached 13 points in a game this season.
-With one 3-pointer in the first quarter, Odyssey Sims tied her 2015 season mark with 18 3-pointers in only 11 games.
-Karima Christmas shot 6-8 from the stripe tonight, both her season high in free throws attempted (previous high- 7 vs. SA & vs. ATL) and free throws made (previous high- 6 vs. ATL).
-Glory Johnson was a force on defense tonight, grabbing 4 defensive rebounds and setting a new Wings season-high with 4 steals.
-In her second start of the season, Skylar Diggins dished out an individual season-high five assists.
-Rookie Aerial Powers hit double-digit points (13) for the seventh game this season and tied her individual high with three offensive boards.
-The Wings held Seattle to 2-15 (.133) from behind the arc, a season-low for a Dallas opponent this season.
-Tonight’s attendance of 4,622 brings the Wings average to 5,191 after six home games (31,144 total).
Seattle Storm’s Post Game Notes
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
-Seattle fell in the franchise’s first trip to Dallas, and the first meeting between the two teams in 2016, 79-88.
-Breanna Stewart shot 8-of-11 (72.7%) from the floor en route to 29 points, setting a new career-high and marking the fourth time in her young career that she’s topped the 20-point plateau. She knocked down her first three-pointer in five games (0-16 over the last four contests). The last time Stewart connected from deep was June 3 vs. Phoenix, where Seattle won, 95-81. The first-year forward had 17 of her 29 points in the first half.
KEY STAT OF THE GAME
-Dallas outscored Seattle 31-19 in the third quarter, the highest scoring total Seattle has allowed in any third quarter period this season. -Dallas connected on 73.3% of shots in the frame, (11-of-15).
STORM HIGHLIGHTS
-Breanna Stewart shot 8-of-11 (72.7%) from the floor en route to 29 points, setting a new career-high and marking the fourth time in her young career that she’s topped the 20-point plateau. She knocked down her first three-pointer in five games (0-16 over the last four contests). The last time Stewart connected from deep was June 3 vs. Phoenix, where Seattle won, 95-81. The first-year forward had 17 of her 29 points in the first half.
-Breanna Stewart recorded a career-high-tying 4 blocks, the fifth time she’s recorded three or more rejections this season.
-Crystal Langhorne scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, two points shy of her season-high. She also grabbed seven rebounds, one shy of her season-high.
-Sue Bird finished with 11 points, marking her 40th-consecutive game that she’s scored, spanning multiple seasons, (8/15/14 at Los Angeles).
-Alysha Clark (2 points tonight), Jewell Loyd (12 points tonight), Sue Bird (11 points tonight) and Breanna Stewart (29 points tonight) are the remaining Seattle players who have scored in every game they have played in 2016.
-All five Seattle starters scored in tonight’s contest, which marks the 11th time this season (out of 12 games) that the starting unit has achieved that feat.
Dallas Wings Quotes
Head Coach Fred Williams
(On tonight’s win)
“It was a very important win for us. We put a lot of energy in that New York game and a few other ones at home and got so close. Tonight, I thought the young ladies really played well. Having 12 players helped, you’re able to go to the bench and put fresh players in. It’s still going to take us a few games to really get ready and get in the flow. Skylar (Diggins) played really well out there and Odyssey (Sims) was in the flow getting to the rim. Glory Johnson did a great job running the floor and defending.”
(On the Wings’ offense)
“My effort was to get them to the rim driving. Teams lay off of us a little bit to take three’s. I think last week we shot 34 times from three, and made half of them. We’re a good rebounding team and we’re getting second-chance shots. We’re leading the league in offensive boards and it shows we can get to the boards and get a lot more opportunities.”
(On the 3rd quarter)
“We got a couple isolation plays to get to the rim. (Aerial Powers and Karima Christmas) kept seeing the seams and the gaps to go through. They are pretty strong players who can do that. I thought they made some good decisions.”
Dallas Wings Players
Forward Karima Christmas
(On snapping the losing streak)
“It was important. We kind of felt it in New York. We came out strong and we wanted to build on that. We came in here to protect homecourt and we finally got this win.
“We played really well today, and last game too. Just being able to pull it out in the end is something to be proud of.”
(On having entire team available to play)
“We’re trying to get together in the game flow, having everyone back out there again. It’s a different rotation and different lineups. Getting a feel for each other is something that has gotten better in the last few games.”
Forward Aerial Powers
(On her defense leading to offense)
“When I am doing things defensively, I feel engaged a little bit more. When I got that block (in the 3rd quarter), I got a little hype and that’s when everything got going for me.”
(On her third quarter scoring)
“I just got good looks. My team was penetrating well and kicking it to me and I just knocked down the shots.”
(On her on court personality)
“It comes from my passion for basketball. I love basketball. When we do something good, it excites me no matter what it is.”
Seattle Storm Head Coach Jenn Boucek
(On how that third-quarter surge by Dallas doomed their chances)
“Yeah, third quarter was real bad. Turnovers, fouls, we were just out of sorts. We gave them a lot of momentum in that quarter.”
(On why Langhorne and Stewart were less effective in the second half)
“We were throwing it away. We were turning the ball over. We weren’t getting it to where we wanted to get it. We weren’t letting our offense create for us. We just lost our poise offensively.”
(On missing their last 11 three-pointers of the game)
“Yeah, we have good shooters. I didn’t think we took bad shots. If our defense is doing what it’s supposed to do, you can play through that. Our defense is not where it needs to be. I think that is the biggest issue more so than anything offensively.”
Seattle Storm Forward Breanna Stewart
(On them playing catch up after the third quarter)
“Yeah, third quarter, obviously that’s when every team wants to go on a run, first quarter and third quarter. They got to the free throw line way too many times in that quarter, got a lot of and-ones. It was kind of defeating and hard to kind of bounce yourself back from, but we were up at half and we should have built on that, and we didn’t.”
(On what positives they take away from this game)
“I don’t know. We’re continuously kind of kicking ourselves. When we have the game, we get down by too much and then we have to play catch up. In this league, you can’t do that. You can’t play catch up. It’s a lot of games and there’s not a lot of rest or recovery. It’s kind of just like you have to figure out what you can do in your mind differently for the next game.”
(On her and Langhorne’s play in the second quarter)
“We just want to be aggressive and we felt that we had a mismatch in the post. We were able to attack both in the paint and with some three shots.”
(On if Dallas made adjustments in the third quarter is why she and Langhorne didn’t score as much as in the second quarter)
“Yeah, I think that’s something they focused on. We were trying to really emphasize scoring in the paint and that’s what every team does.”