By Dorothy J. Gentry
Sports Editor
The Dallas Wings opened their season by defeating the Atlanta Dream 85-78 during an afternoon game at UTA’s College Park Center filled with a crowd of 5,600.
They were led by Arike Ogunbowale who finished with 27 points and 4 rebounds. The 27 points represents her most points scored in a season-opener over the course of her five years, beating her previous high of 19 in 2020.
New Dallas Wing Natasha Howard recorded a double-double in her Wings debut. Howard recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Satou Sabally recorded 25 points on 7-13 shooting (53.8%). Sabally joined Ogunbowale in recording a career-high in a season-opener, beating her previous 18 from 2021. Aside from her scoring efforts, Sabally helped secure the win for the Wings with a crucial block in the final 20 seconds of play. Both Howard and Sabally provided three assists and two blocks, while Veronica Burton, Crystal Dangerfield and Awak Kuier aided with two assists each, with Burton essentially sealing the game for the Wings with four made free throws as the time ticked away. Howard, Ogunbowale and Sabally combined for 72 points which accounted for 84.7% of the Wings’ scoring efforts.
With Ogunbowale’s 27 points and Sabally’s 25 points, the Wings dynamic duo recorded the two highest single-game scoring outputs over the course of the 2023 WNBA Opening Weekend.
New Wings Head Coach Latricia Trammell got her first win as a WNBA head coach.
“I’m happy for the players. They did grind. We had players- the starters played heavy minutes. I’m just proud. They’re the ones why we’re here, right?” she said post game.
“So, to see the locker room and see the smiles on their faces and they’re tired for sure, because the entire group had to battle. This is a great way to go back and look, it’s the first game, right? That gave us a lot of things that we can see that we need to work on, implement, continue to move forward on this road trip and move in a positive way. That’s all we can do.”
The Wings will head to Seattle on May 26 for a 9:00 p.m. CT tipoff against the Storm with coverage on ION TV.
