SEATTLE — Jessica Shepard had 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists Wednesday night for her sixth triple-double of the season, the most in the WNBA. The Dallas Wings beat the Seattle Storm 103-91 at Climate Pledge Arena in the regular-season finale for both teams and finished 27-17.
Earlier in the night, the New York Liberty lost to the Atlanta Dream, which locked Dallas into the No. 7 seed. The Wings open the first round Sunday against the No. 2 seed, either the Golden State Valkyries or the Las Vegas Aces.
Dallas went 10-34 in 2025. The 27 wins and the .614 winning percentage are both franchise records, and the team said the 17-win improvement is the largest single-season turnaround in WNBA history. Wings coach Jose Fernandez also holds the league record for the biggest turnaround by a first-year head coach, according to the team.
Paige Bueckers led Dallas with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go with 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. She made all 6 of her free throws. It was her 26th game of at least 20 points this season. Bueckers set the franchise record for points in a season Monday at Phoenix and pushed that total to 878 on Wednesday.
Arike Ogunbowale scored 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting and added 4 rebounds and 6 assists for her 18th 20-point game of the year. Shepard shot 9-of-12 from the field in her 10th 20-point game. In the first quarter alone, she had 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. According to the team, no player in WNBA history had reached all three marks in a single quarter.
Awak Kuier scored 14 points and made 4 of 6 from 3-point range, a career high for made 3-pointers. She also had 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Maddy Siegrist finished with 11 points and 4 rebounds and made both of her 3-point attempts. Off the bench, Odyssey Sims scored 5 points and Aziaha James had 3 points and 3 assists. Dallas started Bueckers, Ogunbowale, Kuier, Siegrist, and Shepard for the fourth straight game.
Awak Kuier Makes Late Plays As Dallas Wings Hold Off Seattle Storm
Dallas led 90-71 with 6:55 left after Sims finished a three-point play. Seattle scored 20 of the next 27 points. With 5:32 remaining, Shepard was called for a Flagrant 1 foul, and Dominique Malonga made 2 of the 3 free throws that followed before missing both attempts on a Shepard shooting foul five seconds later.
Natisha Hiedeman did not score through three quarters and had all 10 of her points in the fourth. She stole a Kuier pass and scored at the other end to bring Seattle within 94-88 with 2:01 left. On the next Dallas possession, Kuier made a 3-pointer off a pass from Ogunbowale. Hiedeman then hit a floater, drew the foul, and made the free throw, which cut the lead to 97-91 with 1:14 remaining.
With 57.8 seconds left, Shepard found Bueckers for a 3-pointer that pushed the lead back to 100-91. Kuier blocked Hiedeman’s drive on Seattle’s next trip. After a Storm timeout, she stole Hiedeman’s pass and found Siegrist cutting to the basket, and Siegrist scored through a foul with 27.9 seconds to go before making the free throw for the final 103-91 margin.
Kuier traced her approach in those possessions back to Monday’s 87-86 loss at the Phoenix Mercury.
“I think just making sure that I stay locked in and not losing my focus,” Kuier said. “I feel like I learned a lot from the last game where I got beat back door in a really important part of the game. So I feel like just learning from the last game and making sure that I’m locked in those moments that are like the most important in the game.”
Phoenix won that game on a backdoor layup with 2.4 seconds left, which ended the Wings’ six-game winning streak.
Kuier has spent this season learning Bueckers’ game and adjusting to it.
“Obviously Paige is a great player, and I feel like she’s one of those players that make the rest of her teammates look good,” Kuier explained. “So I feel like it’s just been very enjoyable for me personally to play with her and kind of learn her game and adjust to her. And obviously going into the playoffs where we’re going to try and play our best basketball. And I feel like she’s going to be a huge role in that.”
Siegrist and Kuier were both on the 2023 Wings team that lost to Las Vegas in the semifinals, the franchise’s last playoff appearance before this season. Dallas drafted Siegrist third overall that spring, and she said she had forgotten that.
“Just hopefully anywhere the team needs, whether that’s rebounding, making shots, defending,” Siegrist said. “I think we’ve both done a good job all year just being ready for whatever is asked of us. And that’s going to just continue.”
Finishing on a win mattered after the loss in Phoenix.
“Just super excited,” Siegrist explained. “I think credit to the Wings, they brought a great group of players together. So credit to them, but just super excited and to go out on a good note into the playoffs. I think that was really important, responding to the last game we had.”
Jose Fernandez Cites Second-Quarter Defense And 17-Game Turnaround
Shepard and Bueckers scored Dallas’ first 8 points, and the Wings led 13-5 after a Kuier layup with 6:13 left in the first quarter. Shepard’s running layup with 49.7 seconds remaining made it 29-10, the Wings’ largest lead of the night. Dallas shot 13-of-20 in the quarter and held Seattle to 4-of-16 shooting, including 0-of-6 from three, for a 29-12 lead after one.
Seattle scored 14 of the first 18 points of the second quarter. When Flau’jae Johnson hit a running jumper with 6:02 left in the half, the Dallas lead was down to 33-26. Awa Fam went 4-of-4 in the quarter, three of those makes from 3-point range, and scored 11 points. As a team, Seattle shot 13-of-16 in the period. According to the team, no Wings opponent had shot a higher percentage in a quarter all season. The Storm also scored 6 points off the 7 turnovers Dallas committed in the second.
Seattle got within 35-31 on a Malonga layup with 4:55 left before Dallas went into halftime ahead 49-42. Bueckers had 15 points at the half. Shepard had 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Fernandez talked to the team after the game about the second quarter.
“I thought we got off to a good start,” Fernandez said. “The first quarter we scored 29 points. That second quarter, we just did not defend. We gave up 30 points. And then at the end of the game, I talk to our team. It’s about us, no matter who’s in the game. We got to get better, individually and collectively.”
Ogunbowale opened the second half with a 3-pointer from Bueckers. Siegrist scored on the next Dallas possession, a layup off an Ogunbowale pass, and the lead was back to 54-42. A Johnson layup with 5:11 to go in the third quarter brought Seattle within 61-55. From there, Dallas outscored the Storm 15-8 over the rest of the quarter and took a 76-63 lead into the fourth.
That run included a coach’s challenge with 3:28 left in the third. Officials overturned an offensive foul on Bueckers and changed it to a personal foul on Seattle. Bueckers went to the line and made both free throws for a 65-55 lead. Ogunbowale had 7 of her 23 points in the quarter. The Wings did not turn the ball over in the third.
For the game, the Wings shot 39-of-69 (56.5%) from the field, 9-of-18 (50%) from 3-point range, and 16-of-19 (84.2%) at the free-throw line. It was the first time this season Dallas shot at least 50% overall and from three while making more than 80% of its free throws, the team said. The Wings finished with a season-high 32 assists. Dallas reached 30 assists six times this season, the most in the WNBA.
Malonga led Seattle with 29 points and 8 rebounds on 11-of-18 shooting. Fam scored 22 points and made 4 of 7 from three, and Johnson added 21 points and 6 rebounds. Hiedeman had 14 assists. The Storm outscored Dallas 18-9 in second-chance points and 9-4 in fast-break points, while the Wings held a 48-44 edge in the paint.
Seattle finished 8-36 and lost all four meetings with Dallas this season. The game drew a sellout crowd of 14,200.
Alysha Clark (face) and Alanna Smith (lower left leg) did not play. Deja Kelly, who signed a Developmental Player contract with Dallas on Tuesday, was inactive.
Fernandez said injuries were among what Dallas had to go through this season.
“I think with all the things, you can go back to training camp, right?” Fernandez explained. “You go back to training camp and who we had at training camp and how the time we had to prepare. And then look at last year’s roster to this year’s roster, returners to newcomers, to have a 17-game turnaround.”
“Incredible staff, incredible people in that locker room, and very fortunate and excited about our time here to getting into the playoffs,” Fernandez continued. “And we’re one of eight teams still playing basketball. So a lot of positives throughout the year with a lot of the different things that we had to go through, also from an injury standpoint.”
Fernandez coached South Florida from 2000 to 2025 before Dallas hired him on Oct. 28, 2025. He said Bueckers understands what is needed of her to close out games.
“Us as a mid-major, we were always an 8-9 seed or a 7-10,” Fernandez said. “You’ve got to play that, you win that first game, that you’re playing a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed, which sometimes it’s very, very difficult.”
“I think Paige has an unbelievable trust in her teammates, and sometimes she’s too unselfish, right?” Fernandez added. “But that’s just a credit to who she is. But I think she has a huge understanding of what’s needed of her and being able to close out games. And I think she’s special in that point, making people around her better. Sometimes she defers, but that doesn’t take away her wanting to take a shot or her wanting to have the ball in her hands.”
Golden State clinches the No. 2 seed and a series with Dallas with a win at the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday or a Las Vegas loss at Phoenix. Las Vegas moves up to No. 2 with a win and a Golden State loss. Tip-off for both games is set for 9 p.m. CT, and the first round begins Sunday.
