SAN FRANCISCO — The Dallas Wings scored 9 points in the second quarter Monday night at Chase Center, the third time this season they have been held to single digits in a quarter, and lost to the Golden State Valkyries 78-70 in front of 18,064 fans.
Paige Bueckers led Dallas with 21 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists, scoring 19 of those points after halftime. Arike Ogunbowale finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Dallas dropped to 20-16 with eight games to play and has lost eight of its last 11, the three wins in that stretch coming against the Portland Fire on July 22, the Connecticut Sun on Aug. 2, and the Toronto Tempo on Aug. 12.
Golden State improved to 25-9 and clinched a playoff berth in its second season of existence. The result also completed a 3-0 Valkyries sweep of the season series, following a 91-80 win at Chase Center on June 17 and a 94-76 win at American Airlines Center on Aug. 7.
Wings coach José Fernández started Bueckers, Ogunbowale, Alysha Clark, Jessica Shepard, and Alanna Smith together for the first time this season, the ninth different starting lineup Dallas has used. Azzi Fudd was out with a right knee injury, her fifth straight absence and sixth of the season, and Aziaha James with a lower left leg injury.
Golden State Closes The First Half On A 22-5 Run
Smith scored 9 points in the opening quarter on 4-of-5 shooting, matching her season high for points in a single quarter. Dallas made 4 of its first 5 shots while Golden State opened 1-of-7, led by as many as 7 at 15-8, and shot 56.2% in the period. Twelve of the Wings’ 19 first-quarter points came in the paint.
Golden State closed the quarter on a 12-4 run. Tiffany Hayes ended it with a 33-foot pull-up 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left for a 20-19 Valkyries lead. All 5 lead changes and all 3 ties in the game came in the first half.
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said the crowd at Chase Center was on a different level Monday night.
“That’s Tip taking big shots,” Nakase said. “She has that in her blood. Not only does she empty the tank, does she fight, does she dive on the floor, does she crash. She also makes big shots. So it’s just Tip Hayes being Tip Hayes.”
“At the end of the day too, you could tell she’s just having so much fun out there,” Nakase continued. “When we play with joy, but at the same time we battle, good things happen.”
Hayes scored 5 points in the quarter on 2-of-3 shooting in 3 minutes and 27 seconds off the bench. Hayes can take over a game in an instant, by Burton’s account, and does it while coming off the bench.
“In awe,” Burton said. “We all talked about it. There was still some time left on the clock, so we were all like, what? And then she drains it, and she’s talking her talk on the way back. So that is Tip in a nutshell. I just think she’s the coolest person ever.”
Dallas shot 3-of-14 in the second quarter, including 1-of-5 from 3-point range, and five turnovers in the period turned into 9 Golden State points. Veronica Burton scored 9 of her 16 points in the quarter and made all three of her 3-point attempts there. Golden State shot 10-of-18 in the frame.
Ogunbowale’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to 33-28 with 3:02 left in the half. Golden State answered with 3-pointers on its next three possessions, two from Burton and one from Cecilia Zandalasini, and Fernández called a timeout with Dallas down 42-28 and 1:36 to go. The Valkyries closed the half on a 22-5 run to lead 44-28.
Golden State made 12 3-pointers on 36 attempts, 8 of them before halftime, matching the 12 it made against Dallas on Aug. 7.
“I think they actually hit difficult shots tonight,” Smith said. “They hit contested shots. And I think we executed our defensive plan fairly well. I don’t think that’s the reason that they won the game.”
Paige Bueckers Leads A Fourth-Quarter Push
Bueckers opened the night 1-of-7 from the field and 0-of-2 from 3-point range. She went 3-of-6 in the third quarter for 9 points, and Dallas got within 8 twice: 52-44 with 4:04 to play in the period and 54-46 with 3:04 left. Golden State closed the quarter on an 8-0 run for a 62-46 lead, and the Wings did not draw within 10 again until the fourth.
Janelle Salaün pushed the margin to 20 with a cutting layup at the 8:45 mark of the fourth quarter, 66-46. The Wings responded with 9 straight points and held Golden State off the scoreboard for 4 minutes and 56 seconds, trimming the lead to 66-55 with 5:05 remaining. Awak Kuier had a steal, a fast-break layup, and a free throw inside that run, and Smith scored the basket that capped it.
Golden State shot 3-of-17 in the fourth quarter. Maddy Siegrist hit a step-back 3-pointer with 58.5 seconds left to make it 70-64. Dallas got within 6 three times over the final 40 seconds: on a Bueckers step-back at 39.1 seconds, on two Bueckers free throws at 28.9 seconds, and on a Bueckers pull-up with 16.9 seconds left that made it 76-70.
Every Golden State free throw of the fourth quarter came inside the final 1:12, and the Valkyries went 9-of-10 in that stretch. Kayla Thornton, Burton, Gabby Williams, and Salaün each made a pair.
Bueckers scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished 8-of-18 from the field with 7 turnovers, more than triple her season average of 2.2. Dallas outscored Golden State 24-16 in the period and shot 56.2%. This season, Bueckers has reached 20 points 21 times, the third-most in the WNBA in 2026, and averages 20.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.8 assists.
Fernández said the size and length of the group Dallas closed with affected Golden State.
“What we talked about before the game and even at halftime, there were four things that we needed to do well,” Fernández said. “We needed to defend the arc. We needed to take care of the basketball and not give Golden State extra possessions, live-ball turnovers, and making sure our shot selection didn’t lead to bad transition defense, and you throw those in as turnovers. Points in the paint, and the glass.”
“I was very proud of our guys. We wanted to talk about playing the second half in five-minute increments, and if we could do that, give us a chance to get back into the game,” Fernández continued. “The first five minutes of the third quarter, we won by three or four, and then those next five, we didn’t close the third quarter. But I thought we got ourselves back into the game in the fourth.”
“A couple times we got it down to eight, nine, and they hit a couple threes,” Fernández added. “The threes at the end of the shot clock hurt us, and also the offensive rebounds off of their three-point attempts. They had 10 ORs.”
Where The Possession Battle Turned
Golden State scored 1.200 points per possession on its 20 second-quarter possessions, according to play-type tracking from the game. Dallas managed 0.450 on 20 possessions of its own. The fourth quarter ran the other way, with Dallas at 1.143 across 21 possessions and Golden State at 0.640 across 25.
In the half court, Golden State used 76 possessions and scored 0.868 points per possession to Dallas’ 0.797 on 64. The Wings were the more productive team in the open floor, scoring 1.118 points per possession on 17 transition trips to Golden State’s 0.857 on 14.
Pick-and-roll was the widest gap of the night. Golden State scored 1.056 points per possession on 18 possessions finished by the ball handler, including passes, while Dallas scored 0.526 on 19. The Valkyries also generated 12 isolation possessions to Dallas’ 7 and scored 1.417 on them.
Golden State took 25 spot-up possessions to Dallas’ 16 and scored 0.920 on them. Dallas held the edge after timeouts, scoring 0.833 points per possession on 12 such trips to Golden State’s 0.462 on 13, and out of bounds, at 1.500 on 9 possessions to Golden State’s 0.571 on 14.
Golden State grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and converted them into 7 second-chance points, scoring 0.500 points per possession on the 10 trips that followed an offensive board. Dallas had 4 offensive rebounds and 2 second-chance points. In the last 4 seconds of the shot clock, the Valkyries used 24 possessions and scored 0.917 points per possession, with Dallas at 0.750 on 16.
Dallas committed 18 turnovers, well above its season average of 11.0, which is the second-fewest in the WNBA. Those 18 produced 20 Golden State points. The Wings finished with 15 assists on 26 made field goals after entering the night averaging 21.7 assists, fourth in the league.
Arike Ogunbowale And Awak Kuier Reach Career Marks
Ogunbowale’s 3 assists gave her 1,000 for her career. Her 17 points moved her to 4,999, leaving her 1 short of 5,000 entering Thursday. She shot 5-of-13 from the field, 1-of-7 from 3-point range, and 6-of-6 at the free-throw line in 37 minutes and 1 second, and she has spent all eight of her WNBA seasons in Dallas. Ogunbowale averages 14.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists this season and has appeared in all 36 games.
Kuier blocked 3 shots, her fifth game this season with at least 3, and now has 106 for her career, which the team lists as the most in Wings history. Teaira McCowan blocked 103 across four seasons in Dallas from 2022 through 2025. Kuier added 7 rebounds and 3 points in 20 minutes and 7 seconds off the bench, and she averages 1.2 blocks in 16.4 minutes per game.
Smith scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting with 5 rebounds and 2 assists, her fifth game in double figures in her last six, and moved past 1,500 career points. She came in averaging 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 17.9 minutes.
Jessica Shepard Returns From A Two-Game Absence
Shepard finished with 4 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists on 1-of-4 shooting in 25 minutes and 41 seconds, against season averages of 13.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists.
Monday was her first game back from the right ankle injury she suffered in the first quarter at Minnesota on Aug. 9. Shepard had started each of Dallas’ first 33 games before sitting out the Aug. 12 win over Toronto and Friday’s loss at Indiana, and she was listed as probable before tip-off. She did not play in the fourth quarter.
“This was her first game back, right?” Fernández explained. “She didn’t have a minute restriction, but with her not playing in a while and coming off that ankle, and how Awak was playing, and Alanna, and we went big there at the three, it was more beneficial for us to rest her and get her ready for this four-game homestand at home coming off that ankle injury.”
Siegrist added 7 points and 3 rebounds. Clark had 3 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 20 minutes and 48 seconds, making her only 3-point attempt. Odyssey Sims had 2 assists in 12 minutes and 18 seconds, and Sug Sutton scored 2 points in 4 minutes and 43 seconds.
Dallas shot 44.8% from the field, 22.7% from 3-point range, and 86.7% at the free-throw line. The Wings won the rebounding battle 33-30, outscored Golden State in the paint 32-22, and held a 9-2 edge in fast-break points. The Valkyries bench outscored the Wings reserves 27-12. The 70 points were the second-fewest Dallas has scored this season.
Golden State Clinches A Second Straight Playoff Berth
The Valkyries are the 14th team in North American professional sports history to reach the postseason in each of its first two seasons of existence, per Elias Sports Bureau, a list that spans MLB, MLS, the NBA, the NFL, and the WNBA. Monday’s crowd was Golden State’s 41st consecutive regular-season sellout, and the franchise has sold out every regular-season home game it has played.
Williams led all scorers with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists, adding 4 steals in her sixth 20-point game of the season. Burton finished with 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. Hayes scored 10 points, her third straight game in double figures and her sixth in the last seven. Salaün also scored 10 in 18 minutes and 49 seconds off the bench, and has come off the bench in all 32 games she has appeared in this season while averaging 13.1 points. Kiah Stokes played 23 minutes and 46 seconds with 5 rebounds and 1 block.
Williams has said that since her first day with Golden State, she came to the franchise to win.
“I think I’m more excited about how we’ve done it versus us doing it,” Williams said. “I knew we were going to do it since I got here, but I didn’t expect us to do it this way, have this much fun. Every game I go into, I have zero doubt, because I know some way we’re going to figure it out. We’re gonna stay together, and I think that’s what I didn’t expect to be so great. Of course, I wanted to, and I had a feeling, but to live it every day has been amazing.”
The outside expectations on Golden State this season were still low, by Burton’s reckoning, and only slightly higher than the ones the Valkyries carried into their inaugural year.
“It’s intense,” Burton explained. “It’s the film, it’s the little details, it’s the repetition of the drills that we’ve been doing since training camp, and it’s not getting tired of the little things. Whether it’s as simple as ball screen coverage; we drill it all the time and it’s going to be ingrained in us. The second we dip even a little bit, we’re held accountable, and we’re going to hear about it. We’re going to watch it on film. We’re going to know about it.”
“There’s still a lot of room for growth, but I think I’ve learned to really appreciate being so obsessed over the details because you see it. It translates,” Burton continued. “We play defense, and we make other teams struggle to score, and I think we find joy in that. So it can be hard, and it can be exhausting at times, but I think we have the right group of people, top to bottom, to get it done.”
Golden State allows 76.9 points per game, the fewest in the WNBA, and its defensive rating of 102.9 also leads the league. The Valkyries play at 74.7 possessions per 40 minutes, the slowest pace in the league, and attempt a league-high 30.5 3-pointers per game. They have held opponents to 70 points or fewer in 10 games this season, also a league high. The win was their sixth in a row and their 15th at home, the most in the WNBA, and their 78 points were their fewest since July 18.
Nakase watched Williams run the huddles Monday and said afterward that what Williams told teammates was fierce, harsh, and needed. She also told her players they will not be able to hear much in the postseason and will have to say what needs saying within seconds.
“I said the goal is to be the team that wins their last game in the season. That’s the goal, and so with that, this is just part of the process that we have to build in terms of being in the playoffs,” Nakase explained. “That’s great, but we have so much work to do. We’re playing teams with a lot more continuity, a lot more experience together, a lot more playoffs together. Three of our players have won: Ceci [Cecilia Zandalasini], KT [Kayla Thornton], Kiah [Stokes]. They have won championships, but we’re playing against teams that have more. With that, it’s how can we get better, and how can we get prepared for the playoffs.”
Dallas Wings Are 2-7 Since The All-Star Break
Dallas carried an 18-9 record into the All-Star break and has gone 2-7 since, with wins over Connecticut on Aug. 2 and Toronto on Aug. 12. Ogunbowale doesn’t blame the injuries.
“We were playing well before the break,” Ogunbowale said. “Sometimes teams come back better or worse, and I think we’re just figuring it out. We’ve had some injuries, but we can’t put the blame on that. We’re figuring it out, and we will figure it out.”
Indiana beat Dallas 98-87 on Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and the two teams meet Thursday again.
“We just got to keep going game to game,” Ogunbowale explained. “Not worry about how many we lost or how many we have left — game to game, our next opponent, and watch the film on what we did wrong and just be better for the next game.”
Where The Loss Leaves The Dallas Wings In The Playoff Race
The top eight teams by record qualify for the WNBA playoffs regardless of conference. Dallas sits eighth by winning percentage at .556, fourth in the Western Conference behind the Minnesota Lynx, Golden State, and the Las Vegas Aces, all three of which have clinched berths.
The Washington Mystics are 20-14 and one game ahead of Dallas. Portland is 15-20 and 4.5 games back with nine to play. The Phoenix Mercury are 13-23, and the Los Angeles Sparks are 12-22.
The regular season ends Sept. 24, with the playoffs beginning Sept. 27. The league pauses in early September for the FIBA World Cup and resumes Sept. 17, leaving Dallas four games before the break and four after.
Golden State swept all three meetings this season, which gives the Valkyries the head-to-head tiebreaker on the Wings. Dallas won the season series against Las Vegas 2-1 and lost all four meetings with Minnesota.
What’s Next For The Dallas Wings
Dallas returns home for six consecutive games, starting Thursday against the Indiana Fever at American Airlines Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CT, with the game airing nationally on Prime and locally on WFAA. The Wings will play all of their 2027 home games at the downtown arena.
The homestand continues against the Seattle Storm on Aug. 23, Portland on Aug. 25, and Connecticut on Aug. 30, then resumes after the break with Las Vegas on Sept. 17 and Phoenix on Sept. 19. Dallas closes the regular season at Phoenix on Sept. 21 and at Seattle on Sept. 23.
Golden State hosts Minnesota on Wednesday at 9 p.m. CT.
