Arike Ogunbowale scored 19 points and drilled four late free throws Friday night as the Dallas Wings held off the Atlanta Dream 85-82 in Arlington, Texas.
Rookie Jacy Sheldon set career-highs with 17 points and five 3-pointers for the Wings (5-16), who had lost three straight and 14 of their last 15 games after starting 3-2.
Dallas’ Teaira McCowan paired 16 points with 11 rebounds, while Odyssey Sims scored 14 and dished out seven assists. Natasha Howard chipped in 10 points after scoring a career-high 36 on Wednesday.
Dream center Tina Charles, 35, scored 12 points and moved past Tamika Catchings into third place on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list with 7,383 points in her 12-year career. She added eight rebounds.
All-Star Allisha Gray scored 19 points, Haley Jones added 16 and Maya Caldwell had 11 for the Dream.
Atlanta (7-12) set its season high in turnovers for the second straight game, committing 29 after tallying 18 in Tuesday’s 85-77 loss to the Chicago Sky.
Down three late in the fourth, Sims stole the ball from Gray and finished on the other end to put Dallas up 79-76 with 1:08 to play.
That came after Gray hit the Dream’s second 3-pointer of the game with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter to pull Atlanta within one. Gray was fouled on the play but missed the ensuing free throw.
The Dream finished 2-of-6 from 3-point range compared to the Wings’ 7-of-21, but outscored Dallas 56-38 in the paint.
Howard’s jumper boosted the Wings’ lead to five with 45 seconds left, and Ogunbowale twice answered an Atlanta bucket with a 2-for-2 trip to the line to seal the win.
Neither team led by more than seven in a game that featured 10 ties and 18 lead changes.
Dallas led 42-41 at halftime.
McCowan led all players with 12 points and six boards in the first half, while Jones and Maya Caldwell combined for 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting.
–Field Level Media