The Dallas Wings came up on top in yesterday’s game. Winning the game 80-77. It was a physical game no pun intended. Phoenix Mercury is now the 8th seed with this crucial loss. The Dallas Wings are the 11th seed. However, Phoenix needed the win the most.
Team leaders for Phoenix Leilani Mitchell with 23 points, and 3 assists and the sensational rookie Brianna Turner with 11 rebounds. Team leaders for Dallas rookie Arike Ogunbowale with 23 points and 4 assists and Isabelle Harrison with 9 rebounds.
Phoenix Mercury
Mercury lost the first quarter 21-20. But regained their confidence in the second quarter and won the second quarter 26-29. The third quarter theory is whoever wins the 3rd quarter wins the game. That theory came to light yesterday and that’s exactly what happened in last night’s game. Dallas won the third quarter.
Phoenix started off well especially Brittney Griner with her easy dunk of the night. Griner finished with 13 points, 2 assists, and 5 rebounds. She went 6-13 from the field. Not a bad night for Griner until things got ugly in the 4th quarter. In fact, it was not her fault and she did not initiate the fight.
It was uncalled for Kristine Anigwe to hit Griner in the head and that’s when things escalated. I will not expose or speak negative things about the WNBA. Therefore that’s the only thing I am speaking in regards to the incident from last night. There’s plenty of videos that you can watch about the unfortunate fight.
The 3rd quarter was neck to neck and even some chatter between players, referees, and coaches. Dallas played slightly better than Phoenix in the 3rd quarter. Kaela Davis was one of the reasons Dallas came on top in the 3rd quarter. DeWanna Bonner with a solid performance with 12 points, 3 assists, and 10 rebounds. Bonner went from 3-11 from the field.
Mercury had the biggest lead in the game with a nine-point lead. It was unfortunate they lost Griner in the last 5 minutes of the game. That made an impact on Phoenix. The final score for the 3rd quarter tied game 63-63.
Dallas Wings Came Up On Top
Dallas was trailing 68-71 in the 6-minute mark of the 4th quarter. Kaela Davis with a couple of buckets from the bench helped Dallas at the end of the 3rd quarter. Due to the ejection of players Dallas only had two players on the bench. Therefore Davis was one of the players that got ejected. That hurt the Wings in scoring.
However, Arike came with the vengeance in the 4th quarter. Arike made trips to the foul line and that’s when they trailed by two 1 minute left in the game. Arike went 11-16 from the line. Allisha Gray was a big factor in the 4th quarter with 16 points, 1 assist, and 2 rebounds. In addition to going 7-7 from the line and 4-8 from the field.
In conclusion, Dallas Wings came on top within few seconds remaining in the game. They had more fast-break points than Phoenix and Dallas had more assists than Mercury. The Wings had a better field goal and three-point percentage with 43.5 field goal percentage and 31.6 percentage from the arc.
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