Dallas Wings Fall to Dominant New York Liberty, 105-91

Satou Sabally (No. 0) of the Dallas Wings looks for the open player against the stingy New York Liberty defense at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

ARLINGTON, Texas — While the WNBA Playoffs are out of reach for the Dallas Wings, Texas’ only WNBA team pressed onward for their first of final three home games of the 2024 season against the New York Liberty on Tuesday evening at College Park Center. With the Wings looking to close out their season on a strong note, the Liberty’s focus was on closing in on clinching the number one seed in the upcoming WNBA Playoffs against the eighth and final postseason entry.

From the get-go of this latest 40-minute game in front of the Wings faithful, it was never in doubt for the Liberty. Sabrina Ionescu‘s patented long distance three opened the scoring frenzy 29 seconds into the game before Teaira McCowan, with a feed from Natasha Howard, made it a 3-2 score in favor of New York.

A shooting foul on Satou Sabally brought Breanna Stewart to the stripe for the first of her free throw attempts as the UConn Huskies great banked her two charity stripe buckets. Howard, an alum of the Liberty, evened the score with a 24′ trey moments later.

New York never looked back from 8:11 left in the first quarter onward in the game with Ionescu, Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Leonie Fiebich accounting for the Liberty’s 28 first quarter points to counter Dallas’ 18 points. The Wings kept within striking distance as McCowan and Howard’s early contributions were propelled by Maddy Siegrist and Jaelyn Brown.

In the second frame, New York and Dallas showcased their high powered offensive scoring ways. Sabally and Jacy Sheldon got early points for the Wings while Jones demonstrated her versatile scoring with her midrange fadeaway shot and three-point attack followed up by a trey by Fiebich in a 44-second span.

Jones continued piling on points for New York while Arike Ogunbowale got on the box score with a running layup in her pursuit to become the all-time leading scorer in Dallas Wings franchise history. Ogunbowale needed 34 points to draw ahead of Deanna “Tweety” Nolan, a three-time WNBA champion when the Wings were formerly the Detroit Shock.

Laney-Hamilton’s three-pointer with 6:51 left in the second was countermanded by Siegrist’s layup and Howard’s pullup jumper. Nyara Sabally, the younger sister of Satou Sabally of the Wings, got on the board with Ionescu’s fourth assist of the matchup to make it a 43-28 score for New York over Dallas.

There was still some fight left in Dallas when Ogunbowale scored a jumper and a three fed by Sheldon to make it a 10-point difference inside the final 4:42 of the first half.

Jacy Sheldon (No. 4) tallied 10 points for the Dallas Wings against a dominant New York Liberty squad. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

Siegrist and Sheldon brought the Wings within nine of New York with 2:13 left in the quarter before Kennedy Burke, Stewart and Ionescu ended the frame with a 9-3 run for the Liberty, taking a 58-43 lead over the Wings.

For what it was worth, Dallas did not back down in terms of the scoring front in the second half. Sheldon, McCowan, Ogunbowale and Howard made it an eight-point margin held by New York against the Wings, 72-64, with 5:14 left in the third.

That was as close as it would get for the remainder of the game as New York’s prolific scoring got back into motion with Fiebich’s layup and 24′ three-pointer, prompting a Dallas timeout with 3:31 left in the penultimate frame.

Ionescu, Vandersloot, Fiebich and Sabally pushed New York to an 18-point lead over Dallas going into the final quarter. Following McCowan’s cutting layup in the opening 24 seconds, Fiebich, Jones, and Vandersloot expanded the Liberty’s lead to a 23-point advantage with 6:40 left in the fourth.

Howard, Sabally, Siegrist, Ogunbowale and Kalani Brown brought Dallas within 16 of New York inside the final 3:20. However, New York cruised to a 105-91 victory in spite of some late baskets by Ogunbowale and Brown with Ivana Dojkic getting a jumper with 25 seconds left for the final points on the board.

Despite Dallas’ offensive efforts to keep within striking distance of New York, Howard pointed out how the Liberty were relentless all-around with their overall attack.

“New York played good defense,” Howard observed. “But with us, we’ve got to keep keeping the ball, moving on both sides of the floor. Like on defense, we got to put them in rotation. But my thing is we put ourselves in a predicament in New York.”

Even with Dallas outscoring New York with 44 points in the paint to the Liberty’s 34 and tallying four more fast break points, 13 to 9, as Siegrist points out, the actual W is what the Wings want to close out the season.

“You want to just finish strong, continue to do the best you can,” Siegrist shared. “Every time you have the opportunity to play basketball, you want to give it your all because especially learning this year and I’m sure Tasha (Howard) can speak on it too with injuries, you don’t know how many games you’re going to play, so you always want to just take it and do the best you can. And I thought we played really hard tonight. That’s a win, but moral victories don’t get you too far.”

Breanna Stewart (No. 30) of the New York Liberty meets some defensive resistance from Teaira McCowan (No. 15) of the Dallas Wings. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

By far, Stewart, the game’s leading scorer with 27 points, showcased her ability to drive toward the rim and tally points from long distance. Those points were not easy considering the kind of defensive effort toward her by Siegrist, Howard and the Wings.

“She makes really tough shots look easy,” Howard said. “And I think that’s when you’re playing against somebody great. So you just try to slow her down the best we can. Like nine for 18 like that. That’s not bad against her. She could easily have 40. So you know, just trying to slow her down.”

From experience, Howard, who played alongside Stewart as teammates on the championship winning Seattle Storm teams of 2018 and 2020, offered an exact scouting report that highlighted her all-around facets as one of the top players in the league.

“I played with her in Seattle, so I know what Stewie can bring day in and day out,” Howard said. “So we try to make it hard for her. I try to make it hard for her, but she’s a little bit taller than me and got longer arms but at the end of the day, she can get her regardless, no matter what, if you put a good defender on her. But like Maddy said, she’s a good overall player.”

Clinching the number one spot is not all that is on New York’s mind. For Ionescu, it is about treating the next matchup to prepare for the title run.

“These last games coming up, we’ve gotta make sure we control what we can to continue to get better, to be able to start the Playoffs on the right foot, understanding that all these games are practice games in terms of we understand we’re in the Playoffs, but we don’t just want to kind of get there and not be our best,” Ionescu said to ShaVonne Herndon following the game. “We want to use these games to continue to be our best come that Playoff time, so they’re all just important as the next.”

One of the neatest aspects of the matchup were the Sabally sisters facing off on the court. Wings head coach Latricia Trammell observed the magnitude of this moment not only for the sisters but for the league to have a neat moment for sports.

Satou Sabally (No. 0) of the Dallas Wings has a fun moment with her younger sister, Nyara Sabally (No. 8), of the New York Liberty. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

“When we were in New York and her sister came in, she took Satou off the bounce and was an and one. And so there’s a little trash [talk] there,” Trammell said. “So I guess Satou returned the favor tonight. But they obviously they love each other, but it’s always fun. And what an incredible thing to say that both sisters are playing in the WNBA. That’s a lot of respect there.”

As this season winds down, Trammell expressed her pride in Siegrist’s determination and desire to catalyze the Wings. The 2023 first round pick from Villanova resonated with Trammell and the team in terms of being a positive playmaker and presence in this trying season.

“For me, Maddy really stepping up at the very beginning, to be honest,” Trammell said. “Getting those minutes that she might not have gotten. If you want to see a positive out of injuries as much as that, we had that connection that I have with her early on and then seeing her just progress and always staying ready. I think that is one of the positives. I just [want] to see her succeed. I know she wants it bad.”

No matter the stakes or the fact that Siegrist had her best game since her return following the Olympic break, the Poughkeepsie, New York, native does not intend to back down with her readiness whenever she is on the hardwood court.

“I don’t think confidence is something that comes from preparation,” Siegrist said. “I put myself in the position to do the best I can every single night. And I’m going to continue to do that. Whether it’s whatever amount of time it is, whatever situation, whatever team, I’m just going to do the best I can and rely on my preparation.”

The Rundown

Natasha Howard (No. 6) of the Dallas Wings goes for the rim against Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (No. 44) of the New York Liberty at College Park Center. (Photo: Dylan Nadwdony | The Podium Finish)

New York Liberty: By the Numbers

Breanna Stewart (No. 30) of the New York Liberty was unrivaled when it came to her prolific scoring at College Park Center. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

Dallas Wings: By the Numbers

Natasha Howard (No. 6) of the Dallas Wings had a strong performance with 21 points, three assists and a steal against the New York Liberty. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

We See You!

Chiaka Ogbogu, member of the silver medal winning Team USA women’s volleyball team, was in attendance for the New York Liberty-Dallas Wings game on Tuesday evening at College Park Center. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

The Dallas Wings were not short on special guests at College Park Center on Tuesday evening. Chiaka Ogbogu, member of the silver medal winning U.S. women’s volleyball team from the 2024 Paris Olympics, was in attendance and met with Satou Sabally following the game to trade jerseys.

Record Watch

Arike Ogbunowale (No. 24) of the Dallas Wings might make for some her-story in front of the College Park Center fans. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

Tallying 21 points on Tuesday evening, Ogunbowale needs 10 points to tie, 11 points to surpass Nolan to become the Wings franchise’s all-time leading scorer.

Coming Up Next

Sabrina Ionescu (No. 20) of the New York Liberty moves toward the basket while Jacy Sheldon (No. 4) of the Dallas Wings guards her closely. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

Dallas faces off against New York on Thursday evening at 8 ET/7 CT on Prime Video for their fourth and final matchup of the season with the Seattle Storm racing into Arlington, Texas, for a Friday night home season finale at 6:30 CT on ION and streaming on WNBA League Pass.