College Park, GA (May 21, 2024) – A tale of two halves saw the Dallas Wings fall at the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night, 83-78, at a sold-out Gateway Center in College Park, Ga. Three Wings players reached the 20-point mark, with WNBA-leading scorer Arike Ogunbowale dropping a game-high 24 points. Dallas scored a season-high 48 first-half points but struggled over the final 20 to fall to 1-2 on the season.
Playing in just her second game with the Wings, Monique Billings, who played the last six seasons with the Atlanta Dream (2-1), notched a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double. Teaira McCown had her second double-double in three games this year with season highs of 21 points and 14 rebounds. Ogunbowale added three steals, while Sevgi Uzun had a game- and career-high eight assists.
The Wings led by as many as 10 in the first half after shooting .528 (19-36) from the field over the opening 20 minutes, with Ogunbowale heading to the locker room with 18 points at the break. Dallas led 48-40 at the half, the second time this season the Wings have led after the first two quarters.
After an early back-and-forth in the third quarter, Dallas led by 10, 62-52, with 1:56 left in the frame. The Dream responded with a 15-0 run to take a 67-62 lead with 7:21 remaining and would cling to at least a three-point lead the rest of the way.
Dallas, which has been without three key contributors (Satou Sabally, Natsha Howard, Jaelyn Brown) the last two games, was limited to 30 second-half points and .324 shooting over the final 20 minutes after having its hottest first half of the season.
Despite the second-half slump, the Wings shot .429 on the night – their second-best shooting performance of the season – led by McCowan’s 9-of-12 clip.
Atlanta saw five finish in double figures, including 21 points for Allisha Gray. The Dream shot .417 from the field and made seven three-pointers, while narrowly winning the rebounding battle, 36-35.
The Wings remain on the road for their next four games, as they will travel to the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday. Tipoff on Bally Sports Southwest is slated for 9 p.m. CT. The Mercury play tonight at Las Vegas.