The Indiana Fever built a 14 point lead, but the Dallas Wings battled back late in the fourth quarter and pulled out a 76-73 victory. Dallas used a strong second half to get back in the game. In the third and fourth quarters, the Wings outscored the Fever 45-30.
Wings Coach Agler
Via press release head coach Brian Agler had this to say. “I was really happy with how we competed in the second half. We had a group out there that just cut loose and played. I want to acknowledge Kayla Thornton for her aggressive play on the boards and making things happen defensively. That energy right there helped us get back in. Bella stepped up and did some great things, Ty with great pick and rolls, and Satou had a monster game with 17 rebounds and really made some big plays defensively.”
Both teams did not shot well from the field; Dallas shot 36% from the field; the Fever shot 35% from the field. The three-point land was horrendous as well, with Dallas shooting 26% and the Fever 12%.
Sabally Leading the Way
Rookie Satou Sabally had an outstanding game. Sabally scored 23 points and 17 rebounds on 7-15 shooting from the field. After only two games, some WNBA fans were already writing Sabally off. It was nice to see Sabally aggressive and making plays for the Wings.
Satou Sabally had this to say via a press release, “I’m feeling really good. We can take a lot of good things out of this game. Props to my team doing a really good job playing hard and through that I had the driving lanes…It was really good teamwork. I didn’t do that alone. We boxed out different people and that’s how I got my rebounds…I would way it was great teamwork, and I was just playing hard and finally got some buckets.”
Sabally became the first rookie in Wings franchise history to have at least 20 points and 15 rebounds in a single game.
Other Rookies Contribute
Rookies Tyasha Harris and Bella Alarie contributed as well. Harris only scored seven points but did dish out five assists off the bench. Alarie scored six points but added four rebounds, two blocks, and two steals.
Arike Ogunbowale added 15 points but only shot 5-22 from the field; she is a volume scorer. Kayla Thornton played an outstanding all-around game off the bench with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Thornton did a great job bringing energy off the bench to get Dallas back in the game and helped lead them to the comeback victory.
Dallas used high energy and defense to get back into the game. Their ability to get the free-throw line helped out as well. When you are struggling for the field, being aggressive and getting to the free-throw line will help you score points.
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