The Dallas Wings take on the Indiana Fever at home Sunday, May 19, at 2 p.m. in the team’s last preseason tune-up before the regular season tips off later this week in Atlanta. The Wings are coming off a 1-1 showing in Connecticut. They were bested 82-59 by the Atlanta Dream in the first game, but bounced back 71-67 in a gritty, come-from-behind fashion against the host Connecticut Sun. The Wings went down by as many as 10 points in the first quarter but ripped off a pair of double-digit scoring streaks to regain the lead. The Sun would rally late, taking a one-point advantage with less than two minutes remaining, but late free throws and lockdown defense gave Dallas THE victory. The Fever come to town boasting a 2-0 record in preseason action, have beat Chicago twice in the span of three days. Once by the score of 69-58 and 76-65 in the other. Rookies Kennedy Burke and Arike Ogunbowale lead the Wings in scoring, averaging 12.0 and 11.5 points per game individually, while Tiffany and Kelsey Mitchell lead the Fever at a clip of 10.0 and 8.5, respectively. Third-year player Allisha Gray is the Dallas leader for rebounds at 6.5 per contest and rookie Teaira McCowan leads Indiana on the glass with 6.5 boards a game.
ROOKIE, ROOKIE, ROOKIE CAN’T YOU SEE
Rookies Kennedy Burke and Arike Ogunbowale led the team in scoring in Dallas’s back-to-back contests earlier in the week. Burke tallied 11 points, an assist, a steal and a block in 16 minutes in the first game and followed it with 13 points, five rebounds, an assist and two blocks in the second showing. Ogunbowale exploded for a game-high 19 points in her second showing after registering four points in the first game. In the win against the Sun, she went 6-of-14 from the floor including 3-of-6 from the three-point line. Ogunbowale added three rebounds and a pair of assists in the victory as well.
ON THE MOVE
Earlier this week the Dallas Wings traded center Liz Cambage to the Las Vegas Aces in return for guard Moriah Jefferson and forward Isabelle Harrison. The deal also included the Wings picking up Vegas’ first and second round picks from the 2020 draft. The Wings made another deal the same day, acquiring Imani McGee-Stafford from the Atlanta Dream for the Wings’ 2020 third round pick. Jefferson, 25, averaged 5.4 points a game in 2018 after returning from injury halfway through the season. Harrison, 25, who took a medical leave of absence during the 2018 season, started 33 contests for San Antonio in 2017. McGee-Stafford, 24, appeared in 29 games for the Dream last season, starting two of them. The Wings also waived Morgan Bertsch, the team’s third round 2019 draft pick.