Jacy Sheldon (No. 4) and Arike Ogunbowale (No. 24) confer during their game against the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Photo: Dallas Wings Basketball)
CHICAGO — After being down as many as 22 points, the Dallas Wings closed within nine points before falling to the Chicago Sky, 83-72, at Wintrust Arena on Thursday afternoon.
Before Thursday afternoon’s matchup, the Wings announced that Maddy Siegrist was out due to breaking her left index finger in the first quarter of Monday night’s game against the Minnesota Lynx. Signing Morgan Bertsch to a salary cap hardship contract, Siegrist underwent successful surgery on Thursday and will be out at least through the Olympic break.
The Wings got two shots in the arm with Arike Ogunbowale and Natasha Howard returning to action. Ogunbowale was back after experiencing soreness in her Achilles while Howard returned after breaking her foot in the May 16 season-opener against the Sky at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.
Latricia Trammell, head coach of the Dallas Wings, shuffled the starting lineup with Monique Billings, Teaira McCowan, Ogunbowale, Jacy Sheldon and Sevgi Uzun going up. Meanwhile the Sky’s starting five were Lindsay Allen, Marina Mabrey, Chennedy Carter, Kamila Cardoso and Angel Reese.
Chicago was off to a soaring start against Dallas, tallying 42 points versus the Wings’ 25 in the first half. Allen, Carter, Mabrey and Dana Evans sparked the Sky’s 20 points as McCowan, Ogunbowale and Uzun gathered 11 for the Wings.
Howard, Ogunbowale and Sheldon brought Dallas within four points of Chicago in the final five minutes of the first half. Then, Reese extended Chicago’s lead, making her two free throws after being fouled by Billings along with her hook shot and layup, prompting a Dallas timeout with 3:20 left in the second quarter.
While Ogunbowale’s step back jumper brought Chicago’s lead back to eight, the Sky went on a 9-0 run to end the first half with a 42-25 lead.
Jacy Sheldon (No. 4) and Monique Billings (No. 25) get on the attack against the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Photo: Dallas Wings Basketball)
The third quarter showed slight improvement by the Wings, slowing down the Sky’s torrid, offensive barrage orchestrated by Mabrey, Reese, Carter, and Isabelle Harrison. Uzun, Billings, Ogunbowale, Sheldon and McCowan, the starting five, tallied 14 combined points for Dallas.
Although Dallas was down by 20 going into the fourth quarter, an inspired comeback kicked off on the wings of Ogunbowale’s grit and determination. Finding a rhythm from beyond the arc, Ogunbowale scored 17 of her 31 points, showcasing her prowess as a scoring phenom.
Howard, Billings and Sheldon all contributed for the Wings along with Ogunbowale, closing the lead from 20 to nine in the final 44 seconds. Running out of time, Dallas fell to Chicago, 83-72, dropping their ninth consecutive game.
Coming up short after outscoring Chicago, 33-24, in the fourth quarter, Ogunbowale considered the biggest intangible missing from the team in the first three quarters – effort.
“Just effort,” Ogunbowale said. “I mean, a lot of stuff isn’t anything that can be coached or just drawn up. Like, we got outworked for 30 minutes. We played hard in the fourth, but it was a little too late. But we just got to pick the effort up.
“If we would have had a little bit more effort from every single one of us, we might have won this game, or we would have had a better chance at least. But just effort. That’s really all I can say.”
Returning to action on Thursday off the bench, Howard wants to see her teammates come out of the gates with the same charge and hunger in their back-to-back road games against the Washington Mystics on Saturday and Sunday.
“I feel like we did good in the fourth quarter. We all fought. We didn’t give up. We stayed together,” Howard said. “Like Arike said, we just got out hustling in the the first half and in the third quarter. And we cannot do that.
“Starting this weekend, we play against Washington. We’ve got to come out with the same mentality, how we did in the fourth quarter and and just keep building on that.”
The Rundown
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
| Dallas Wings | 11 | 14 | 14 | 33 | 72 |
| Chicago Sky | 20 | 22 | 17 | 24 | 83 |
Dallas Wings: By the Numbers
Natasha Howard (No. 6) of the Dallas Wings made her return on the hardwood court against the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Photo: Dallas Wings Basketball)
| Dallas Wings | ||||||||||||||
| Starters | Minutes | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Monique Billings (F) | 31 | 1-8 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -12 | 4 |
| Teaira McCowan (C) | 26 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -10 | 7 |
| Arike Ogunbowale (G) | 38 | 10-24 | 7-16 | 4-4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -11 | 31 |
| Jacy Sheldon (G) | 34 | 3-7 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 9 |
| Sevgi Uzun (G) | 33 | 4-9 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | -6 | 8 |
| Bench | Minutes | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Natasha Howard (F) | 20 | 3-8 | 1-2 | 6-8 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 13 |
| Morgan Bertsch (F) | 9 | 0-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Stephanie Soares (C) | 5 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 |
| Lou Lopez Sénéchal (G) | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -11 | 0 |
| Satou Sabally (F) | DNP – Shoulder | |||||||||||||
| Maddy Siegrist (F) | DNP – Shoulder | |||||||||||||
| Kalani Brown (C) | DNP – Illness | |||||||||||||
| Jaelyn Brown (G) | DNP – Illness | |||||||||||||
Chicago Sky: By the Numbers
| Chicago Sky | ||||||||||||||
| Starters | Minutes | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Angel Reese (F) | 29 | 7-13 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 16 |
| Kamila Cardoso (C) | 31 | 5-17 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 9 |
| Lindsay Allen (G) | 14 | 5-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 2 |
| Marina Marbey (G) | 29 | 4-9 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 21 | 19 |
| Chennedy Carter (C) | 27 | 3-11 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 19 |
| Bench | Minutes | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Isabelle Harrison (F) | 15 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 4 |
| Brianna Turner (F) | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -7 | 0 |
| Michaela Onyenwere (F) | 11 | 6-9 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -10 | 2 |
| Diamond DeShields (G) | 13 | 6-9 | 0-2 | 3-3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -5 | 0 |
| Dana Evans (G) | 26 | 1-5 | 0-3 | 10-10 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -2 | 12 |
| Elizabeth Williams (C) | DNP – Knee Injury | |||||||||||||
| Kysre Gondrezick (G) | DNP – Coach’s Decision | |||||||||||||
