A WNBA playoff scoring record got the Dallas Wings to Friday. It will not be enough by itself to get them past the Golden State Valkyries. Game 3 of their first-round series tips at 8 p.m. Central at Chase Center, nationally televised on ESPN2, with a semifinal berth and a date against the Las Vegas Aces on the line.
Arike Ogunbowale finished with 45 points in Wednesday's 108-100 overtime win at College Park Center, breaking the league's single-game playoff scoring mark, the Associated Press reported. She went 12-for-23 from the field and 5-for-8 from three, scored 11 in overtime alone, and hit the corner three that tied the game with 4.1 seconds left in regulation.
ESPN noted she averaged 15.3 points on 40.6% shooting in the regular season and scored just 10 in Game 1. History happened once. Golden State will plan for it twice.
The quiet half of the star duo
Paige Bueckers is the other half of Dallas' expected scoring punch, and Game 2 was a hard night. The 2025 No. 1 overall pick and Rookie of the Year scored 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting in her first postseason series, per the AP. ESPN put that roughly 10 points under her team-high regular-season average.
Jessica Shepard, named the league's Most Improved Player before tip Wednesday, attempted five shots, scored little impact volume, and turned the ball over three times, Mavs Moneyball reported.
Mavs Moneyball's Matt Martinez argued the Wings need big nights from two scorers as a baseline against Golden State's defense, with the regular-season pattern alternating between Bueckers-Ogunbowale and Bueckers-Shepard partnerships. Wednesday broke that pattern: Ogunbowale went nuclear, Alysha Clark scored 21 off the bench, and Aziaha James added 13, while the supposed co-stars stayed quiet. That mix can win one elimination game at home.
Repeating it on the road asks Clark and James to stay hot while Bueckers and Shepard climb out of a two-game funk against the same defense.
How Golden State will answer
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said after Game 2 that Golden State has to take away Ogunbowale's step-back and "maybe throw more bodies at her," USA TODAY reported. Gabby Williams scored a career-high 36 in the loss and still framed the night as a defensive failure. "I didn't recognize us tonight - I don't think any of us did," Williams told reporters, per ESPN.
