SAN FRANCISCO — The Dallas Wings’ season ended Friday night at Chase Center. The Golden State Valkyries came back from 16 points down in the third quarter and scored 10 of the final 11 points to win Game 3 of their first-round series, 77-73. Dallas led 72-67 with 3:13 left and did not make another field goal.
Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 30 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists on 11-of-21 shooting. Two nights earlier, she set a WNBA playoff record with 45 points in Dallas’ 108-100 overtime win in Game 2 at College Park Center in Arlington.
Gabby Williams scored 17 of her 19 points after halftime for Golden State, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Her 17-foot pull-up jumper with 1:17 left gave the Valkyries the lead for good.
Dallas, the No. 7 seed, finished the regular season 27-17 after winning 10 games in 2025. The second-seeded Valkyries went 32-12 and won a playoff series for the first time in their second season. Golden State swept the regular-season series 3-0 and won Game 1 104-80 on Sept. 27. A sellout crowd of 18,064 was on hand Friday.
Ogunbowale and Paige Bueckers took the podium together after the loss.
“Just tough. I mean, we had a lead. We led pretty decently, and we just couldn’t hold it,” Ogunbowale said. “They’re a great team, obviously. They’ve had a great year and played well against us, but for these past couple games we played well against them. It’s tough to give a lead up like that, but it’s also hard to keep a lead against a team like that. Disappointing for sure.”
Dallas led 19-14 after the first quarter. Golden State went ahead 37-33 on a pair of Tiffany Hayes free throws with 2:18 left in the second quarter, and the Wings answered with the next 20 points. Ogunbowale scored 6 points in the final 1:23 of the half, including a 17-foot pull-up with 2.8 seconds left, as Dallas took a 44-37 lead into the break. She had 17 points at halftime.
The run carried into the third quarter. Bueckers made two free throws, Jessica Shepard scored on a driving layup, and Bueckers hit a 28-foot pull-up three-pointer before an Ogunbowale driving layup with 6:02 left in the period made it 53-37.
Golden State missed its first nine shots of the second half. Veronica Burton ended the drought with a 27-foot step-back three-pointer with 5:38 left in the third, and the Valkyries outscored Dallas 17-6 the rest of the quarter. Williams hit two three-pointers in that stretch, the second with 19.7 seconds left, and Golden State trailed 59-54 entering the fourth.
Shepard opened the fourth quarter with a floater for a 61-54 lead. Kaila Charles tied the game at 65 with a three-pointer with 6:51 left, and Burton’s fast-break layup with 4:56 remaining put the Valkyries ahead 67-65, their first lead since late in the second quarter.
Ogunbowale answered with a 29-foot three-pointer, two free throws, and a 13-foot floater that made it 72-67 with 3:13 left. Dallas missed its final six shots from the field.
Charles scored on a putback with 2:14 remaining. Williams followed with a driving layup with 1:40 left and the go-ahead jumper 23 seconds later. She outscored Dallas 8-1 by herself over the final two minutes.
With 14.2 seconds left and Golden State up 73-72, Awak Kuier blocked a Williams drive. Williams jumped back inbounds to recover her own miss on a play originally ruled Dallas’ ball, The Associated Press reported, and Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase won the challenge to give Golden State possession. Nakase had fallen to her knees on the sideline moments earlier before being helped up.
Williams made two free throws with 9.6 seconds left for a 75-72 lead. Alysha Clark split a pair at the line with 7.7 seconds left, Williams made two more at 6.9, and Bueckers missed a 32-foot pull-up three-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining.
Golden State finished with 14 offensive rebounds to Dallas’ 6, and it scored 20 second-chance points to the Wings’ 10. The Valkyries also outrebounded Dallas 50-40.
“I think they picked up the intensity a lot, and we only did a little bit. I don’t think we matched it, and they just seemed like they wanted it more,” Ogunbowale explained. “Loose balls, rebounds, even that challenge that got overturned by them. She hustled to get that ball, and we didn’t. So I think they just went the extra inch, and that’s what got them the win.”
Bueckers finished with 17 points, 1 rebound, and 6 assists, along with 2 steals and 2 blocks. She made all 10 of her free-throw attempts and shot 3-of-14 from the field, including 0-of-4 in the fourth quarter.
Shepard, named the 2026 WNBA Most Improved Player on Wednesday, had 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 assists on 6-of-11 shooting in 39:50. She had made 2 of her 12 shots across the first two games of the series.
Kuier added 6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 blocks on 3-of-4 shooting. Clark grabbed 7 rebounds off the bench, Odyssey Sims scored 3 points with 2 assists, Maddy Siegrist had 6 rebounds in 9:57, and Aziaha James scored 2 points. Dallas shot 44.1% from the field and 5-of-16 from three. Golden State shot 35.1% but took 77 shots to the Wings’ 59.
Gabby Williams, Golden State Valkyries Hold Dallas Wings To 29 Points After Halftime
Dallas shot 9-of-26 in the second half. The Wings scored 14 points in the fourth quarter on 5-of-15 shooting, and Ogunbowale had 9 of them.
“We knew it was the last 10 minutes, with our backs against the wall and pressure situations,” Hayes said. “When our backs are against the wall, we’re going to scratch and claw, do whatever we need to do, and lock into our schemes. We were on a string, communicating, on the floor, and helping each other. A switch flipped in my head: this is it. When I go home, the season is over, so we had to do something.”
Burton’s three-pointer with 5:38 left in the third quarter was Golden State’s first field goal of the second half.
“Just staying together. We said not to lose confidence and to take it possession by possession,” Williams said. “V hit a really big three, and once we saw it go in, we thought, okay, we saw one go in; now it’s our time to get going. After that, it was about getting stops.”
Williams went into halftime with 2 points on 1-of-5 shooting. She finished 6-of-17 from the field, 3-of-6 from three, and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line, with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
“Big Shot Gabby. She’s our dog, our leader, and the one we go to,” Hayes said. “She showed exactly why she is who she is. We’ll do it again and again, because we believe in her. It’s Gabby f—ing Williams.”
In Game 2, Williams scored a career-high 36 points. She finished the series with 75.
“I love these situations. I love high-pressure situations,” Williams explained. “I think I’m at my best when I don’t have a choice but to be my best, so I like being put in that position.”
Hayes scored 18 points off the bench on 6-of-17 shooting. Burton had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists, Kiah Stokes grabbed 13 rebounds with 3 blocks, and Charles added 10 points and 6 rebounds.
The official play-by-play lists Bueckers’ final attempt as a miss, rebounded by Burton, with no block recorded.
“Also, I blocked Paige’s shot at the end and did not get credited,” Hayes said.
Nakase walked off the court with a member of her staff after the final buzzer, according to the AP. Valkyries players said afterward that she was okay.
José Fernández, Arike Ogunbowale Look Back On Dallas Wings’ 27-Win Season
Dallas played the series without guard Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft. The team announced on Aug. 19 that she would undergo season-ending arthroscopic surgery on her right knee. Forward Alanna Smith was inactive again Friday with a lower left leg injury.
“I’m very grateful for the staff we put together and the team I coached all year long,” Wings coach José Fernández said. “Coming into a franchise that won 10 games last year and winning 27, putting ourselves in a position to be 15 minutes away from the semifinals with a roster depleted by injuries: our first-round pick and best perimeter defender and shooter, and Alanna Smith, our best interior defender. This group still continued to fight, prepare, believe, and play for one another. I’m extremely proud of that.”
Ogunbowale finished the series with 85 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists in three games. She averaged 15.3 points on 40.6% shooting in 44 regular-season starts, her first season in Fernández’s offense.
“You have seen the analytics and numbers compared with previous years,” Fernández explained. “Arike needed to adapt and change to a brand-new system and offense, but the way she finished the season and the last two games showed that she can get to the basket, hit big shots, and play in big moments.”
Bueckers averaged 20.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.9 assists in 42 games in her second season, a year after she was named the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year.
“I knew we were on the right trajectory when we got Paige. She’s a generational player, and she willed us throughout the whole season,” Ogunbowale said. “She should be first-team WNBA. If not, I feel like that s—’s rigged, because she’s done everything for this team.”
“I saw the vision: playing with a generational player like Paige and everybody we got in the offseason. We knew this would be a good year,” Ogunbowale continued. “From training camp, we knew we’d be in the playoffs and have a chance to play for a championship. Obviously, we came up short, but we definitely did what we set out to do.”
Ogunbowale is in her eighth season with Dallas, which drafted her in 2019. The Wings took Bueckers first overall in 2025.
“Arike has meant the world to me. She sacrificed, accepted me with open arms, and took me under her wing,” Bueckers said. “Dallas has been her city for years before I came. She’s held it down through the ups and downs and highs and lows of Dallas basketball. She’s been consistent and a great leader for us.”
“Her ability to sacrifice who she is as a basketball player helped me find who I am and become comfortable,” Bueckers added. “We feed off each other, and she’s somebody I ride for on and off the court. I love Arike. She means the world to me. We wouldn’t be where we are without her, and I’m forever indebted to her and grateful for our relationship.”
Golden State beat Dallas by 24 points in Game 1 after winning all three regular-season meetings.
“I think a lot of people counted us out throughout the whole season, but we truly never cared about what people said,” Bueckers explained. “We know what we had in this locker room. We knew we could compete with anybody, regardless of what happened in the first playoff game. We knew we had what it took to compete; we just had to dig deep and do the little things.”
Bueckers scored 48 points on 15-of-37 shooting in the series and made 14 of her 15 free-throw attempts.
“I won’t say everything I said in the locker room, but this was a special group for me to come into the W as a first-year coach and for them to believe in everything we’re doing every day,” Fernández said. “It translated to success. Paige is taking it hard because she carries that load and she’s a winner. That’s why she’s one of the best players in the world. This series should not diminish the type of year she had for us.”
“We don’t get to this point without Paige,” Fernández continued. “She’s a first-team All-WNBA player, and she takes a lot of ownership and a heavy load. The great ones do.”
The Valkyries open the best-of-five semifinals against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces on Sunday at Chase Center.
