‘We’ve Got Eight, and That’s Enough’: Shorthanded Dallas Wings Fight Before Falling to Atlanta Dream in Paige Bueckers’ Return

Grant AfsethAugust 30, 2025October 21, 2025no comment

Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings, WNBA, Atlanta Dream

Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images

The Dallas Wings fought shoulder to shoulder with the Atlanta Dream for three quarters on Friday night, but ran out of gas late in a 100–78 defeat at Gateway Center Arena. Atlanta (25–14) clinched its 11th playoff berth in franchise history with the win, while Dallas (9–31) dropped its seventh straight, undone by a 29–11 fourth quarter.

Maddy Siegrist tied her career-high of 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting with five rebounds. Paige Bueckers added 16 points and matched her career-best with 10 assists for her second points–assists double-double, making her the only rookie this season with multiple such games. Amy Okonkwo and Myisha Hines-Allen chipped in 11 points apiece as the Wings dressed only eight players, three of them on hardship contracts.

Christyn Williams’ Debut and a Team Battered by Injuries

For Christyn Williams, the hours before tipoff felt surreal. She woke up Friday morning without a team, received the call from Dallas, signed an extreme hardship contract, and by evening was on the court for her first official WNBA game.

It was a whirlwind debut, but also a moment she had been working toward since leaving UConn — and the chance to share it with Paige Bueckers, her former college teammate, made it even more special.

“I’m just super excited overall,” Williams said to DallasHoopsJournal.com pregame. “This is my first official WNBA game, so I’m super grateful for the opportunity and I’m excited to be able to play with Paige again.”

She acknowledged the whirlwind of joining the team on the road: “Everybody has been super helpful and super supportive. If I have any questions, I don’t hesitate to ask. It was a super quick turnaround — I just got here this morning — so I’m still getting adjusted.”

Williams’ signing highlighted the Wings’ season-long battle with injuries. Arike Ogunbowale remains without a timetable for a return while she navigates knee tendonitis. Tyasha Harris (knee surgery), JJ Quinerly (ACL sprain), and Li Yueru (ACL sprain) are all sidelined for the rest of the season. Aziaha James (ankle), Haley Jones (knee), and Luisa Geiselsöder (shoulder) joined the inactive list this week.

Through 39 games, no Dallas player has appeared in every contest, and the team’s total of 107 missed games has forced constant hardship additions. Okonkwo signed her second seven-day deal Friday, Serena Sundell joined earlier this week, and Berger began her own Wings tenure on a hardship contract earlier this summer.

That left veterans like Hines-Allen emphasizing that the group had enough to compete, no matter who was available. She framed her role as not just about production on the court, but also about setting the tone for a team filled with hardship signees and players thrown into bigger roles than expected. For her, the message was about accountability and mindset — not letting the dwindling numbers become an excuse, but instead using the adversity as a chance to show resilience. She said every game is an opportunity for players to prove they belong, and that belief has to start within the locker room.

“My biggest thing is making sure they understand that we get the opportunity to come out here and showcase what we can do,” Hines-Allen explained to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “We’re down in numbers, but at the end of the day, whoever puts the jersey on, that’s who we’ve got to rock with, and it’s enough. I harp on that—what we have is enough to compete.”

She added that the standard had to be competing wire to wire, even if mistakes happen.

“It’s about competing for 40 minutes,” Hines-Allen told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “We’ll have lapses, but if we can limit them and focus on ‘next play, next play,’ then we’re in a good position. Atlanta’s a great team, but we’ve shown we can score—we put up 91 last game, 90-something the game before. It comes down to defense. Defense is in our control: communicating, scrambling, being on the same page with the game plan.”

She explained further that her biggest point of emphasis to the group is separating the things they can’t dictate from the things they can.

“We can’t control whether shots fall, but we can control our defense,” Hines-Allen said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “That’s been my biggest message—knowing that what we’re trying to do tonight is in our control.”

Early Confidence

The Wings opened with a new-look lineup of Berger, Bueckers, Siegrist, Diamond Miller, and Hines-Allen. Miller drew her first start of the season, while Siegrist shouldered the scoring load immediately, pouring in 11 first-quarter points on 5-of-6 shooting to tie her career high for a frame. Dallas led 21–19 after 10 minutes behind 56.2% shooting.

Bueckers said she wasn’t surprised by the production. Having shared the floor with Siegrist throughout the summer, she’s grown accustomed to seeing the forward deliver in different ways — whether it’s pushing in transition, scoring one-on-one, or punishing defenders in the post. For Bueckers, the confidence comes from Siegrist’s consistency; she knows what she’s going to bring every night and trusts her to be aggressive regardless of the matchup.

“She’s a matchup nightmare, and she’s consistent. She’s a bucket,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com about Siegrist. “That’s what we need from her, and she shows up that way every night.”

Head coach Chris Koclanes pointed out that Siegrist’s effort comes from both energy and design. He praised her motor, noting how she constantly runs the floor and creates opportunities just by staying active. At the same time, Dallas has tailored its system to maximize her strengths — putting her in motion, using her in screening actions, and seeking out mismatches to exploit. For Koclanes, it’s a combination of relentless competitiveness and deliberate play-calling that makes her such an effective weapon.

“It starts with Maddy’s energy and motor — she runs the floor, catches tough passes, finishes,” Koclanes said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Then, within the offense, we put her on the move, use her in screens, see who’s matched up against her. She creates her own offense and is efficient around the rim. As a coach, that’s a dream.”

The second quarter swung momentum. Atlanta buried seven threes, flipped a four-point deficit into a 13-point lead, and outscored Dallas 30–19. Howard connected on four triples in the half to pace the Dream with 14, while Siegrist matched her career-high 16 first-half points and Bueckers dished six assists to tie her personal best for a half. At intermission, Dallas trailed 49–40.

A Third-Quarter Push

Rather than fold, Dallas fought back in the third. Siegrist and Okonkwo scored seven apiece, and the Wings shot 3-of-4 from deep while limiting Atlanta to 2-of-7. A 10–4 Dallas run capped by an Okonkwo triple cut the deficit to three, 60–57, with 4:28 left.

Berger said the effort stemmed from halftime adjustments to take away easy shots for Atlanta’s perimeter scorers. The Dream had torched Dallas with seven threes in the second quarter, but the Wings made a conscious decision at the break to close harder on shooters, rotate earlier, and avoid breakdowns that left the corners exposed. She noted that while Atlanta’s All-Stars are capable of making tough shots, Dallas could not afford to give them rhythm looks, and for much of the third quarter the team executed well.

“I think in the third quarter we limited their threes,” Berger told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “That was a big thing at halftime — limit their threes and their easy looks. With players like Rhyne and Allisha, they’re going to get some tough buckets and there’s not much you can do about that, but it’s the easy ones we wanted to take away. We did that in the third, but I thought we got away from it in the fourth and had some slippage.”

Okonkwo explained that her growing chemistry with Bueckers was also central to the run. Playing just her fourth game with the Wings, Okonkwo has quickly learned how to read Bueckers’ decision-making in pick-and-rolls and spacing actions. That connection was on full display during the third quarter, when the two linked up on multiple scoring opportunities — Okonkwo knocking down a key three and Bueckers feeding her in the mid-post. Okonkwo said the trust between them has been natural, with both looking to make the right play rather than force the offense.

“She’s always going to make the right play and the right read,” Okonkwo explained to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “In the two-man game with her, I just try to read what she wants to do and her defender, and find the best spots for her. She’s trying to do the same for me, and I think that connection has been great.”

Berger praised Okonkwo’s impact as a new addition, noting that her ability to space the floor has been critical for a Wings team often short on perimeter shooting. In just her fourth game, Okonkwo knocked down a key third-quarter three and consistently forced Atlanta’s defense to respect her range, which in turn opened driving lanes for guards like Bueckers and Berger to attack. Beyond scoring, Berger highlighted her energy and defensive activity as qualities that elevated the group despite the roster turnover.

“Shooting, first and foremost,” Berger detailed to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “She’s a great shooter, really confident, and that opens up driving lanes for her and for the rest of us. For Paige, it’s nice to have another shooter out there that defenses have to respect. Amy’s been great all around and also brings a lot of energy defensively.”

By quarter’s end, Dallas had trimmed the margin to 71–67 and looked poised to push the Dream to the wire.

Running Out of Gas

The final 10 minutes were decisive. Atlanta opened the fourth with an 8–0 run, hit 76.9% of its shots, and put the game out of reach as Dallas managed only 11 points on 23.8% shooting.

Siegrist poured everything she had into a career-best scoring night, but by the fourth quarter the toll of limited depth and heavy minutes became clear. Facing an Atlanta team that kept rotating fresh bodies and stretching the floor with shooters, Dallas could not match the energy or defensive sharpness needed down the stretch. she explained that while the team kept fighting, the physical strain eventually caught up to them

“I think as a group, we just ran out of gas a little bit,” Siegrist said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “We had some lapses defensively, and they’re a great team — they’re going to take advantage. They hit some threes off second chances, and you can’t let that happen in the fourth.”

Koclanes watched his team claw back within four points entering the fourth quarter, only to see Atlanta land an early knockout blow. He pointed to the 8–0 run the Dream opened the quarter with as the defining sequence of the game, one that Dallas simply couldn’t recover from given its short bench and undersized lineups. While disappointed with the result, he was quick to credit the opponent while recognizing the reality of the situation.

“Tremendous fight in the third to bring it to four, but that 8-0 run to start the fourth was a punch, and we couldn’t get it back,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Credit to Atlanta for responding. I think we just ran out of gas late.”

Still, he praised the effort of his undersized frontcourt. With Dallas missing multiple true posts, players like Hines-Allen and Okonkwo were asked to defend bigger, more physical matchups in Brionna Jones and Brittney Griner.

Koclanes acknowledged that there were possessions where the size disadvantage showed, but he pointed out that the energy and fight from his group prevented Atlanta from completely overwhelming the paint. Even when the Dream scored inside, Dallas kept pace by contesting perimeter looks and staying connected offensively, trimming double-digit deficits down to a single possession. It was less about the result of each individual battle and more about the mentality his players brought to those mismatches.

“Myisha wasn’t scared at all, she was excited for the challenge,” Koclanes emphasized to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Even when it felt like Bri Jones or Griner scored, we guarded the arc and our offense was rolling, cutting into the lead. Myisha fought, Amy fought, Maddy fought. Tremendous fight not to give up.”

Berger, who logged 33 minutes while handling primary ball-handling duties alongside Bueckers, said fatigue couldn’t excuse the late breakdowns. She pointed out that shorthanded or not, the expectation has to be to stay locked in for the full 40 minutes, especially against a playoff team with multiple All-Stars. While the Wings had executed their game plan well in stretches — limiting threes in the third and keeping the game within reach — she felt that lapses during the fourth quarter allowed Atlanta to seize control.

“I think it’s just mental lapses,” Berger said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Yeah, people might be tired, but Atlanta’s tired too. It’s hard whether you play 20 minutes or 40 minutes. Mentally, we can’t afford those simple mistakes. A team like Atlanta, with multiple All-Stars and a lot of experience, is going to make you pay over time.”

Paige Bueckers Back After Illness

Bueckers’ double-double was all the more impressive given that she was a late scratch in Wednesday’s loss to Connecticut after her body reacted poorly to a pregame IV. She explained before tipoff that the setback was unexpected, but she wasn’t going to let it linger.

“Just congestion-wise, being able to breathe. I actually planned on playing against Connecticut, but I ended up taking an IV right before the game and my body kind of rejected it,” Bueckers said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “That happened right before, so it was a late scratch. But honestly, I’m ready to go. As long as I can breathe and get up and down the floor, you’ll hear no excuses from me.”

Her coach highlighted how she balanced her own scoring with facilitating for others. Koclanes pointed out that defenses were crowding her lanes and showing bodies on every possession, but instead of forcing shots, she leaned into playmaking. By constantly probing gaps, finding cutters, and trusting her teammates to finish, Bueckers turned what could have been a limiting defensive scheme into a night where everyone ate. It was the kind of poise he said sets her apart, even this early in her career.

“She takes what the defense gives her,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Today it wasn’t aggressive coverages, it was bodies in gaps. She moved the ball, found cutters, and made the right reads. She balances her own scoring with getting teammates involved. She’s such a team player.”

Building Through Adversity

While the scoreboard showed another loss, Bueckers emphasized that the bigger picture is still being built. For her, the foundation of this team is rooted in resilience — a willingness to fight regardless of circumstances, and to lean on passion when results aren’t yet visible. Even as Dallas cycled through hardship contracts and shuffled lineups nightly, she said the collective belief hasn’t wavered.

“There’s a fight about us,” Bueckers said. “We haven’t gotten the results yet, but we continue to like what we’re building. We’ve had people coming in who’ve never played before, learning the offense and defense on the fly, but one thing we all share is fight and passion for basketball. That will continue to carry us the rest of the season.”

Even after the loss, Bueckers was intent on looking beyond the scoreboard. For the rookie guard, the heart of this season has been about laying a foundation, building belief within the locker room, and asking fans to share in that vision. Drawing from her own inspirations, she made it clear that support during the hard times would be remembered when brighter days arrive.

“Whoever puts on a Wings jersey that night, that’s who we believe in,” Bueckers said. “We don’t need exterior belief — we believe in each other. I remember Steph Curry before the Warriors became the Warriors tweeted, ‘Just stick with us.’ That’s the message. I have an undying belief in what we’re building. I know if we keep doing things the right way, the results will come. Same people who were in the gym during a nine-win season are the ones I want at the championship parade.”

Koclanes said hearing that message from his rookie leader was powerful. In his eyes, it wasn’t just optimism for the cameras but a reflection of how Bueckers lives day to day — encouraging teammates, holding herself accountable, and demanding the same from others. He stressed that kind of perspective has been crucial in keeping the team from unraveling amid constant adversity.

“That’s genuine belief, not lip service,” Koclanes said. “She pours into her teammates, believes in everyone in that locker room. It’s hard when things are tough not to crumble, but Paige and this group keep perspective. They don’t feel sorry for themselves — they maintain standards, hold each other accountable, and believe in the future.”

Okonkwo reinforced the same point from a different angle. For her, the biggest separator is defense — something entirely within their control, regardless of roster size or shooting percentages. She said the team has proven it can score, but their growth will ultimately be defined by communication, effort, and collective stops on that end of the floor.

“We’ll have lapses, but if we can limit them and focus on ‘next play, next play,’ then we’re in a good position,” Okonkwo told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Atlanta’s a great team, but we’ve shown we can score — we put up 91 last game, 90-something the game before. It comes down to defense. Defense is in our control: communicating, scrambling, being on the same page with the game plan. We can’t control whether shots fall, but we can control our defense.”

What’s Next

Dallas continues its four-game road trip Monday at Target Center against the Minnesota Lynx. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT, with coverage on KFAA29 and NBA TV.

More Dallas Wings News & WNBA Rumors

Leave a Response Cancel reply

Grant Afseth

Senior Writer

Grant Afseth is a Senior Writer for DallasHoopsJournal.com, where he leads in-depth coverage of the Mavericks, Wings, and more. Between a focus on the latest news, closer looks at games, front office strategy, and more, Afseth provides objective coverage. Afseth contributes broader NBA coverage across platforms and has been cited in national outlets for his reporting and analysis. With nearly a decade of journalism experience, Afseth has covered the NBA and WNBA for multiple major outlets, including Athlon Sports, BallIsLife, Sportskeeda, and RG.org. He previously reported on the Indiana Pacers for CNHI’s Kokomo Tribune and the Mavericks for FanNation.

view all posts