ARLINGTON, TX – The Dallas Wings have traveled east for an afternoon matchup against the New York Liberty. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT and can be seen on the WNBA’s league pass.
ON THE ROAD
The Wings will head east for their ninth contest on the road for the season. Overall while traveling, the Wings are 3-5 with wins over Atlanta, Indiana and Las Vegas. On Sunday the Wings will face the New York Liberty for the second time this season. Against the east on the road, the Wings are 2-1, with their biggest feat coming in Atlanta. Away from College Park Center, the Wings are averaging 83.1 points per game. the dynamic duo of Skylar Diggins-Smith and Liz Cambage lead all scorers on the road averging with a combined 23.8 ppg average. Both Diggins-Smith and Cambage reached career highs while on the road. During their first contest against New York on 5/29, Cambage recorded 28 points to tie her career high. It was also a new season high for the 6-foot-8 center. On 6/8 Skylar Diggins-Smith recorded a 35-point career high against the Fever. It marked as her seventh 30-point career game, to tie her for first in franchise history with Deanna Nolan.
AGAINST THE EAST
The Wings are matching up well when it comes to east conference foes. Overall the team is 5-1 and 2-1 on the road. The Wings currently own the series against Indiana and Atlanta with 2-0 records. The team’s largest margin of victory over east conference teams is 23, which occurred against Atlanta on 5/20 and recently Chicago on 7/5. Both wins took place on the Wings home court, with the team scoring 100-plus points to record season highs.
AGAINST THE LIBERTY
This afternoon’s game marks as the second matchup between both squads this season and 66th overall. In the last meeting, the Liberty won 94-89 behind a Tina Charles 34 points and 10 rebounds. Liz Cambage scored 28 points and added 16 rebounds in the loss. Following today’s game, the Wings will have one game remaining against the Liberty. That game is scheduled to take place on July 17 inside College Park Center.
SENSATIONAL STEVENS
Rookie Azurá Stevens recorded a new career high in the Wings most recent victory over Indiana. The UCONN grad knocked in 26 points to record her first WNBA 20-point game, which led the Wings to their ninth overall win for the season. Stevens made her first career start against the Los Angeles Sparks. The 22-year-old Stevens was drafted with the sixth pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft and came off the bench for the first 10 games of the season. In her first start, Stevens scored 13 points on 5-for-8 from the field, including 3-for-5 from downtown. The 6-foot-6 phenom also tied a career high for the third time this season, with six rebounds. She now sits fifth in the league for rookie leaders in total boards. The rookie is has picked scoring average from 6.6 points to now 7.7 points per game. She has also gone up in total boards per game with 3.8 and is second among rookies with 0.80 blocks per contest. She also leads the Wings in three-point percentage, shooting 36.0 percent on the season.
OFF THE BENCH
The Wings bench continued its hot streak, scoring a new season high of 49 points. Stevens led all reserves in the team’s most recent win with her career high of 26 points. It marked as the third time that the bench came out and supported their starting five. On 6/22 the reserves led the way for the second straight game with a season-high 41 points against the Los Angeles Sparks. Aerial Powers led the way for the Wings off the bench with 16 points on 6-for-12 from the field. Five bench players contributed to the scoring, including Glory Johnson who scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds. Cayla George scored her first points of the season and finished with six points in the blowout win. Rookie Leticia Romero added six points off the bench in just seven minutes of action. In their most recent breakout performance, the Wings bench went off for 30 points against the Las Vegas Aces. Glory Johnson scored 14 points on 6-for-10 from the field, while Aerial Powers added nine points and Cayla George scored seven points. The Wings are a perfect 4-0 when the bench scores over 30 points this season.