‘She’s Too Good’: Kayla McBride Sets WNBA Three-Point Record As Dallas Wings Fall To Minnesota Lynx 103-90

MINNEAPOLIS — The Dallas Wings lost 103-90 to the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday at Target Center, and Kayla McBride set the WNBA single-game record by making 10 three-pointers.

McBride scored 43 points, and she added 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 steal. She shot 16-of-21 from the field and 10-of-14 from three-point range. The 43 points were a career high in her 13th season. They were also the most any player has scored against the Wings in franchise history.

Dallas dropped to 19-14 and has lost three straight. Minnesota moved to 27-7 and took the season series 4-0.

The game was tied eight times and had six lead changes. Dallas pulled even at 66-66 on a Paige Bueckers pull-up with 3:26 left in the third quarter. Minnesota outscored the Wings 37-24 from that point.

Kayla McBride Breaks The WNBA Three-Point Record

The previous record of 9 three-pointers in a game had been made eight times, according to ESPN. McBride’s 10th came with 2:23 to play and put Minnesota ahead 98-83. She left the game with 1:21 remaining.

McBride entered Sunday averaging 17.6 points across 33 games. She had made 90 three-pointers on 40.5% shooting this season. Her previous career high in points was 38, set with Las Vegas against Dallas on June 27, 2018.

Sunday moved McBride to 6,013 career points, 19th on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list, past Seimone Augustus. She went 7-of-7 on contested field goals for 18 points and 8-of-9 on shots off passes from Olivia Miles, per ESPN.

McBride said an assistant coach told her during the game that she was one three-pointer away from the record.

“I don’t think that you ever — I mean, you wake up feeling good, you know, sore or whatever,” McBride said. “But it’s just another opportunity to hoop. But I think once I saw the first couple go down — the one in transition, I think, was the one where I tipped the ball out — I was like, oh, okay, I’m feeling like really good. And then now I’m just kind of in the zone, you know? But yesterday I really just hung out with my girlfriend. We watched TV. Not much. Went to sleep. I have a very, very strong support system that keeps my nervous system very low-key after games.

“So, you know, it’s hard playing back-to-back. Your body’s gonna be tired, so it’s like, how can you show up for yourself, give yourself that energy, a little bit of juice? And I thought we did that for each other,” McBride explained. “I was just feeding off their energy too. We’re getting steals. I thought Tash played a great game on the defensive end as well, and getting out in transition — that’s when it’s a lot of fun. So just feeling the energy and just trying to get a dub. You know what I mean? That’s really all it was.”

Natasha Howard had 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists with 2 steals and 2 blocks. Miles posted 20 points, 1 rebound, and a career-high 13 assists on 7-of-12 shooting. She is the second rookie in WNBA history with a 20-point, 13-assist game, joining Caitlin Clark.

Napheesa Collier added 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists in her seventh game back from injury. Collier also had 4 steals and 1 block. Eight Minnesota players recorded a steal, and the Lynx finished with 29 assists. Minnesota became the first WNBA team to clinch a playoff berth this season.

Turnovers Decide The Second Half

Dallas committed 19 turnovers, and Minnesota scored 26 points off them. The Lynx turned it over 11 times for 10 Dallas points. Eight of the Wings’ giveaways came in the third quarter, and Minnesota scored 12 points off those.

Wings coach Jose Fernandez said the schedule has put his team in a tough stretch, and that this group has won 19 games after winning 10 last season and nine the year before that.

“I was very, very proud of our group in regards to their energy and their effort and their enthusiasm coming off of how we played against Golden State, right?” Fernandez said. “And playing without Azzi and playing without Shepard, to come in here against a very good basketball team… I thought we gave us an opportunity, that big three at the end of the half. And then that third quarter… K-Mac had a super night. She made shots. But the one thing that we talked about was the live-ball turnovers. We gave them too many extra possessions, and they capitalized them. That was the difference.”

The Wings shot 54.4% from the field, going 37-of-68. Minnesota shot 55.6% on 40-of-72. The Lynx went 18-of-39 from three-point range, and Dallas went 6-of-20.

Minnesota’s 18 three-pointers tied the record for the most made by a Wings opponent in a game in franchise history. The 18 also broke the Lynx single-game franchise record.

Fernandez said Minnesota loaded up in open stance, took away the nail area, and that its length in coverage affected Dallas on dribble penetration.

“Yeah, well, tonight was really tough on that,” Fernandez explained. “On that side action with the empty side, we usually run that with Shep, right, and she facilitates and sets the flat on-ball screens, and it’s reads off those get actions. Tonight was a little different. But I think the Lynx do a really good job loading up, right, in open stance and really taking that nail area away. And that length — that length, the length coverage there on dribble penetration — that affects it.”

Dallas won the rebounding battle 34-24 and held Minnesota to a season low on the boards. The Wings outscored the Lynx in the paint 44-34 and off the bench 34-8. Both teams scored 12 second-chance points, and Minnesota held a 14-11 edge in fast-break points.

Fernandez said there were stretches Sunday when the ball did not go in the basket and Dallas defended anyway.

“I thought some of the threes that were hit were totally uncontested, and she’s too good, right?” Fernandez said. “And then a couple of them on ghosts — we don’t switch, we go under on two flares — and someone like her, who doesn’t need a lot of time, when she knocks them down, you know.”

Paige Bueckers And The Dallas Bench

Bueckers led the Wings with 23 points, 4 rebounds, and 8 assists on 10-of-15 shooting. She added 3 steals, matching her season high. The outing was her 18th game of 20 or more points this season and her 13th leading Dallas in assists.

Bueckers entered Sunday averaging 20.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.7 assists across 30 games. She scored 8 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the third quarter and 9 more in the fourth.

Aziaha James scored a season-high 19 points in just under 15 minutes off the bench, with 6 rebounds and 2 assists. She shot 7-of-10 from the field and finished a team-best plus-8. James averages 5.8 points on the season.

Odyssey Sims made her first start since July 20 and scored 17 points with 3 rebounds and 4 assists. She had 7 points during a 17-7 Dallas run that tied the game at 64-64 in the third quarter. It was her fourth double-digit scoring game this season and her first since May 22.

Sims said the season is long and the team has gone through highs and lows.

“We just gotta figure it out,” Sims said. “It’s a long season. We have highs and lows. We just gotta figure it out. We gotta find a way.”

Alanna Smith had 11 points and a team-high 8 rebounds with 1 steal. Awak Kuier grabbed 7 rebounds in 19 minutes. Li Yueru added 4 points and 6 rebounds, and Maddy Siegrist scored 5 in 6 minutes. Sug Sutton had 4 assists in 8 minutes.

Arike Ogunbowale finished with 5 points and 4 assists on 2-of-4 shooting. She was scoreless after halftime and finished at minus-26.

Playing Without Jessica Shepard And Azzi Fudd

Jessica Shepard injured her right ankle with 5:15 to play in the first quarter and did not return. She played 4:45 and did not score. Shepard entered Sunday averaging 14.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists across 32 games, and she had started every one of them.

Azzi Fudd missed a second straight game with right knee soreness. Dallas listed her as questionable on Saturday. Alysha Clark was out with a back injury. Fudd, the first overall pick in the 2026 draft, averages 13.1 points and 1.7 steals.

Fernandez used a starting lineup of Sims, Bueckers, Ogunbowale, Shepard, and Smith for the eighth time this season and the first since May 24. Nine Dallas players scored in the first half.

Bueckers said Shepard is the Wings’ Swiss Army knife, and that Dallas is missing a lot with her out.

“She just provides spacing,” Bueckers said of Fudd. “She’s a threat anywhere offensively on the floor, so teams really guard her, really try to prohibit her catches, and she can also create off the dribble and create her own shot. So it’s just another weapon to have on offense.

“And then Jess is just our Swiss Army knife. So having her out, we’re missing a lot. But different people — we have a deep team, and I believe in everybody that comes off the bench. So everybody’s just got to step up and not replace those guys, but just do a little bit more to make up for that.”

Dallas won six in a row from July 2 through July 19, a franchise record. That streak ended July 20 in a 99-98 overtime loss to the New York Liberty at College Park Center. The Wings have gone 2-6 since.

Bueckers said she went back to the park in Minnesota where she grew up playing, and that the stretch has been tough.

“Just staying positive,” Bueckers explained. “We won six in a row. Everybody was over the moon. Everybody’s feeling great. We’re playing good individually. But you’ve got to embrace the hard as much as you embrace the good. And that’s what happens in this league. You go through stretches of great. You go through stretches of bad. And it’s all about how you handle adversity. And nobody’s going to be able to get us out of it than us.

“So to voice that and to keep that belief in what we’re capable of. We know what we have in our locker room, so to just keep that belief.”

What Comes Next For The Dallas Wings

Dallas entered Sunday fourth in the Western Conference. The Wings host the Toronto Tempo on Wednesday, August 12, at College Park Center. Tip-off is 7 p.m. CT.