WNBA playoffs: How Ogunbowale's historic 45 points saved the Wings' season — SkimNews
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- Arike Ogunbowale scored 45 points — a single-game WNBA playoff record — including 13 of Dallas's 21 clutch-time points, leading the Wings to a 108-100 overtime win over the Golden State Valkyries and forcing a Game 3 on Friday at 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2).
- Ogunbowale's heroics included a corner 3-pointer with a defender in her face to tie the game with 4 seconds left in regulation and a banked 3 to open overtime; at 29 years, 212 days old, she became the oldest player in league history with a 40-point playoff game.
- Gabby Williams answered with a career-high 36 points for the Valkyries, and she and Ogunbowale became the first opponents to each score at least 35 points in the same WNBA postseason game.
- The Dallas Wings won despite rookie Paige Bueckers being held to 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting, with Alysha Clark adding 21 points off the bench on 6-of-7 shooting after Dallas had trailed by 36 in Game 1.
- Atlanta Dream completed a sweep of the Washington Mystics with a 93-75 victory behind Allisha Gray's 22 points and Jordin Canada's 19 points and 11 assists, reaching the semifinals for the first time since 2018.
- Atlanta will face the No. 8 New York Liberty — who upset top-seeded Minnesota Lynx — in the semifinals starting Sunday, with Atlanta having won the regular-season series 2-1.
- Despite the sweep, the Washington Mystics' young core of Sonia Citron (25 points, seven rebounds) and Kiki Iriafen (15 points, 16 rebounds) — both members of the U.S. gold-medal team at the FIBA Women's World Cup — gives the franchise a foundation to build around in 2027.
Why it matters: Dallas erased a 36-point Game 1 deficit and won on an off night from Bueckers, showing the Wings can win beyond Ogunbowale — but they still must take a winner-take-all Game 3 on the road at Golden State, where the Valkyries have defended home court all season. For Atlanta, snapping a three-year first-round exit streak and reaching the semis for the first time since 2018 sets up a heavyweight matchup with 2024 champion New York.
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