Arike Ogunbowale scored at least 20 points for the second straight game Tuesday night, but the Dallas Wings dropped their first game of the season, falling 77-72 to the Atlanta Dream.
Ogunbowale finished with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting. She scored 11 points in the third quarter, then hit two free throws to give Dallas a 59-58 lead heading into the fourth.
The Wings pushed ahead again late, but Atlanta answered, and Dallas could not recover after Ogunbowale’s pull-up jump shot cut the deficit to 66-63. Dallas shot 38.4% from the field and 15.4% from beyond the arc, leaving too little margin in a game that stayed tight throughout.
The performance followed a 22-point, 8-of-15 shooting night in Saturday’s 107-104 win over the Indiana Fever. It also offered another sign that Ogunbowale looks more like the scorer Dallas re-signed in the offseason to a two-year contract.
That contract came after a down year by her standards. Ogunbowale averaged career lows of 15.5 points per game and shot 36.4% from the field last season, a sharp contrast to the stretch that once brought her four straight WNBA All-Star selections and two seasons averaging 20 points or more.
Jose Fernandez said Ogunbowale had to take a couple of tough shots late in the clock, but added that she is getting to the rim more. Ogunbowale said the bigger picture is Dallas’ depth. “Everybody can eat,” she said. “We have some pretty dynamic guards. When we move the ball around and share it, it’s pretty, but I think in this system, you can drive, you can shoot. There’s just a lot of good looks to be had.”
The Wings have reason to believe their offense can keep improving if Ogunbowale sustains this level. The questions now are whether Dallas can pair her scoring with cleaner perimeter shooting and whether Tuesday’s loss turns out to be a one-night stumble or the first real test of a team that had opened with a win.
