ARLINGTON, Texas — Awak Kuier blocked 3 shots on Sunday night and took over first place on the Dallas Wings‘ single-season blocks list with 57. Dallas beat the Connecticut Sun 97-71 in front of a sellout crowd of 6,251 at College Park Center. Kuier now holds the franchise record for blocks in a game with 7, blocks in a season with 57, and blocks in a career with 122. She has eight games this season with 3 or more blocks, the third most in the WNBA in 2026.
Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in 23 minutes. She shot 6-of-12, the 13th time this season she has shot 50% or better. That is the most such games she has had in a single season in her career, and three of them have come in the last four games.
Jessica Shepard finished with 17 points, a game-high 10 rebounds, and 4 assists for her 22nd double-double of the year. Shepard went 9-of-11 from the free-throw line and 4-of-6 from the field. Her 9 free throws made tied a career high.
Paige Bueckers added 15 points, 2 rebounds, and 6 assists in 25 minutes.
Dallas shot 33-of-63 from the field, 52.4%, and went 8-of-16 from 3-point range. The Wings have shot 50% or better 11 times this season, including five times in August. Their 30 free-throw attempts were their second-most in a game this year, and they made 23.
Connecticut shot 32.9% from the field, 25.9% from 3-point range, and 72.7% from the free-throw line. The field-goal percentage was the second-worst by a Wings opponent this season. Aaliyah Edwards led all scorers with 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting, 16 of them in the second quarter. Charlisse Leger-Walker added 17 points on 6-of-14. The Sun fell to 10-30 and were swept 3-0 in the season series, having also lost 83-63 in Arlington on Aug. 2.
Dallas held advantages of 41-29 on the glass, 44-28 in the paint, 12-4 in second-chance points, 12-11 in fast-break points, and 36-10 in bench scoring.
For the fourth straight game, the Wings opened with Bueckers, Ogunbowale, Kuier, Alanna Smith, and Shepard. Connecticut led 11-10 with 5:32 left in the first quarter. Dallas closed the period on a 22-7 run to lead 32-18, its second-highest-scoring first quarter of the season. Alysha Clark hit 3-pointers with 2:10 and 3.8 seconds on the clock.
Aziaha James Returns After Five Games Out
Aziaha James played for the first time since missing five games and scored 9 points on 4-of-7 shooting with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals in 13 minutes. Her 7 points in the third quarter led all scorers in the period.
James spent the five games watching film for her own mistakes and working with the Wings player development coaches on correcting them. She checked in with 2:45 left in the first quarter and had 2 steals before the period ended.
“It felt good just being back on the court,” James said. “My team been behind my back the whole time, just being in treatment, getting ready. So just to come in and do what I did, it felt good. It felt very good.”
James pushed the lead back to 21 with a pull-up 3-pointer with 1:50 left in the third quarter. Maddy Siegrist made it 81-57 on the next possession, and Connecticut called timeout.
Wes Moore coached both James and Sun guard Saniya Rivers at NC State, where they overlapped from 2022 to 2025 and reached the 2024 Final Four together. Moore sat near the floor on Sunday with Rivers on the visiting bench.
“He kind of surprised me,” James said. “I was just literally doing the handshakes and I look over and he was like right there, so it was surprising to see him. But it was a good feeling because I haven’t seen him so long. So just to have him there, just watch me and Saniya play, it felt very good. Missed him.”
José Fernández On The Second Half
Dallas allowed 29 points in the second quarter, its second most in any second quarter this season, and took a 60-47 lead into the break. That was the fourth time this season the Wings have scored 60 in a half and the second time they have done it in a first half.
Connecticut scored 24 points after halftime on 7-of-33 shooting. The Sun went 4-of-17 in the third quarter and 3-of-16 in the fourth, and they opened the third 1-of-8.
Dallas scored 60 points in the first half and led by 13. Wings coach José Fernández said the halftime conversation was about the other end.
“I talked to our team at halftime,” Fernández said. “We scored 60 points, but defensively weren’t playing to our standard, right? That needed to change. And I think it changed in the second half. I think when our bench got in, they continued to play hard and defend and take care of the ball and take good shots. So there wasn’t that drop-off. And that’s growth.”
Dallas led by as many as 32. The Wings did not play a starter in the fourth quarter and still won the period 14-12.
Paige Bueckers On The Dallas Wings Bench
The Dallas reserves outscored Connecticut’s bench 36-10. Siegrist scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, her highest total since she scored 14 against the Portland Fire on July 22. Clark went 3-of-3 from the field with 2 3-pointers and finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds. Li Yueru had 3 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Sug Sutton and Haley Jones scored 2 apiece. Christyn Williams played her first game with Dallas this season and scored 1 point in 5 minutes.
With 2:59 left in the third quarter, James rebounded a missed Clark free throw and fed Siegrist for a layup.
Clark is a three-time WNBA champion and the 2023 Sixth Player of the Year. Bueckers said Clark’s finishing package is something the team talks about, and that the driving layup in the fourth quarter did not surprise her.
“Our bench is huge for us,” Bueckers said. “There’s so many people who make impact on winning basketball. And it shows up in little things that don’t even show up on the stat sheet. I think AC is, in my opinion, one of the best vets, if not the best vet in the league, just her voice, her competitive spirit, her holding people accountable. And vividly, I remember Zaz rebound off the free throw. That was insane. I was like, she looks so athletic. I wish I could do that. And then Maddie obviously coming off the bench and playing huge minutes for us. But it’s 1 through 14, 1 through 15, however many we have, that just want to win. We have a great locker room, and it’s really fun to play with these guys.”
The World Cup Break And The Last Four Games
Bueckers, Smith, Li, and Costanza Verona will play at the FIBA World Cup, which runs Sept. 4-13 in Berlin. Fernández is a scout coach on Kara Lawson’s Team USA staff. The United States opens group play against China on Sept. 4, plays Italy on Sept. 6, and plays Czechia on Sept. 7. Li will play for China and Verona for Italy.
Fernández said Verona was already in Europe with Italy, and that Smith and Li would leave Monday on separate flights. Each federation books its own travel, and the Wings organization does not arrange any of it.
Bueckers is making her World Cup debut and her first USA appearance at a major international competition. She and Fernández fly out Monday, four days before the United States opens group play, and land Tuesday for a team meeting and a night practice.
“Honestly, the timing of it is so far out of my control, and I try to only focus on the things that I can control,” Bueckers said. “And everybody’s going through who’s competing in the World Cup break, so it’s not like this situation is unique to me. So everybody’s got to figure it out, find a way, dig deep. And you’re representing your country. There’s no time to be tired. Nobody cares. You want to win and do it the right way. And I don’t think there is any rest. I know as soon as we land, I think we got practice. And it’s either a practice day or a game day. But to take care of my body, do the things, recover well, sleep well, eat well, and do all the right things that we all do as pros to try to get as much rest and recovery as possible. But honestly, the main focus is trying to win.”
Dallas is off until Sept. 17, but the roster is not off for all of it.
“There’s a certain number of mandatory days that you have to give off during the break,” Fernández said. “We took a different approach in regards to not having two days off, practicing, two days off. So our players will be off for about six, seven days. Then we’ll come back and have four practices. They’ll be off another two. And then when we return on the 14th, that’ll start our preparation. Another practice on the 14th, 15th, and then we’ll have the preparation for the first one.”
“So some players will be leaving the area during that break. Some will stay,” Fernández continued. “They all have their individual player development programs. What to do while they’re away from us, because we still have a lot to play for, and they got to be ready while I’m away and while P is away to really have great individual workouts and very productive practices. So when we get back together on the 14th and 15th, we’re ready to roll.”
Dallas clinched a playoff berth on Aug. 25 and can finish anywhere from second to eighth. Four games decide it, two at home and two on the road.
“Right now the next one, when we get back, L.A., very important at home,” Fernández said. “You got Phoenix at home. You turn around and go on a road trip to Phoenix and Seattle. It’s taking them one at a time. And then where we end up seeding-wise, we’re playing to win out, right? So you can only do that by that next game being the most important one, and then we find out where the seeding is. And one thing over this break too, we’ll be implementing a lot of stuff for the playoff run on the offensive and defensive end.”
The Wings are 24-16, tied with the New York Liberty and the Washington Mystics and two games behind the Atlanta Dream and the Indiana Fever. Dallas hosts the Los Angeles Sparks on Sept. 17, with tip-off at 7 p.m. CT at College Park Center. The Wings host the Phoenix Mercury on Sept. 19 at noon CT, then close the regular season on the road at Phoenix and at Seattle.
