Arike Ogunbowale scored 24 points and Teaira McCowan added season highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Dallas Wings outlasted the visiting Phoenix Mercury 93-88 on Friday in Arlington, Texas, to snap a four-game losing streak.
The Wings (7-8) led by as many as 17 points in the second quarter and by nine heading into the final period before Phoenix rallied to take its first lead of the game on Tina Charles’ layup with five minutes to play.
After two more lead changes and a tie, Dallas went back in front on a free throw by McCowan with 2:42 remaining and a 3-pointer by Ogunbowale on its ensuing possession and never looked back.
Isabelle Harrison hit for 16 points, Marina Mabrey had 14 and Allisha Gray 12 for Dallas.
Charles led all scorers with 27 points while Skylar Diggins-Smith added 21 points and 10 assists for the Mercury (6-10) for her first double-double of the season. Diamond DeShields chipped in 14 points for Phoenix.
The Wings jumped on Phoenix in the early going, forging as much as a nine-point lead in the first quarter before settling for a 19-16 advantage going into the second quarter.
Dallas pushed its lead to 32-20 at the 7:31 mark of the second period via a 10-0 run and was up by 15 points after Ogunbowale’s jumper with 4:17 left before halftime.
McCowan’s rebound and putback with nine seconds remaining stretched the Wings’ advantage to 17 points, but Shey Peddy responded with a long 3-pointer to allow Phoenix to pull to within 53-39 at the break.
Ogunbowale’s 15 first-half points paced all scorers, while Mabrey and Harrison added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Charles led the Mercury with 12 points in the half with Diggins-Smith adding 10. Diana Taurasi went scoreless in 12 minutes of court time in the first half.
Dallas reestablished a 16-point lead, at 63-47 on a 3-pointer by Gray with 6:55 to play in the third, before the Mercury clawed back to within 65-59 via a 12-2 run capped by Charles’ running layup with 4:08 remaining.
After another Dallas flurry, Diggins-Smith canned a jumper to cut the Mercury’s deficit to nine points heading to the final quarter.
–Field Level Media
