Wings hold off Fever despite Caitlin Clark’s assists record

Arike Ogunbowale and Odyssey Sims each scored 24 points as the Dallas Wings overcame a WNBA record 19 assists from Caitlin Clark to earn a 101-93 victory over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas.

Natasha Howard scored 17 points with eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals, and Kalani Brown added 13 points as the Wings (6-19) ended a three-game losing streak while winning for just the third time in their last 20 games. Sims had nine assists.

Dallas led by as many as 16 points in the first half, saw Indiana take a six-point lead in the fourth quarter, then rallied late. Ogunbowale made a key turnaround jumper to beat the shot clock with 45.2 seconds remaining, giving the Wings a 97-93 lead.

Aliyah Boston scored a career-high 28 points for the Fever (11-15) and Clark had 24 points while topping her previous high of 13 assists in a game. It was Clark’s 10th game of at least 20 points in her rookie season.

NaLyssa Smith scored 13 points with 12 rebounds for Indiana in the final WNBA game before the Olympics break.

Dallas shot 57.5 percent from the floor in the first half while taking a 54-46 advantage into halftime.

Clark led the Fever’s charge in the third quarter with six points and five assists, while Smith had nine points with seven rebounds as Indiana led briefly in the period before the Wings took a 72-70 lead into the final quarter.

Indiana pushed its advantage to 82-76 with 7:03 remaining after a jumper from Lexie Hull. The Wings used a 6-0 run to tie the game 82-82 with 5:49 remaining and the teams traded the lead until the final minute.

With 2:22 to play, the Fever tied the game 93-93 on a 3-pointer from Kelsey Mitchell off Clark’s 19th assist of the game. Dallas got two free throws from Howard before Ogunbowale made her decisive shot in the final minute while spinning away from the basket from 15 feet.

–Field Level Media