‘We Stuck Together, Found A Way To Win’: Dallas Wings Rally Past Chicago Sky 96-91 For Fifth Straight Win

DALLAS — The Dallas Wings outscored the Chicago Sky 30-18 in the fourth quarter to erase a deficit that reached as many as 10 points and pulled away for a 96-91 win Sunday at American Airlines Center, completing their first season sweep of Chicago since 2014.

Paige Bueckers led Dallas with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists for her fourth career double-double. Jessica Shepard added 19 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists for her league-leading 15th double-double of the season, and Li Yueru came off the bench for a season-high 10 points and 10 rebounds, her first double-double since July 9, 2025. Arike Ogunbowale scored 17 points and Azzi Fudd added 16 as Dallas got five players in double figures for the ninth time this season.

Both teams shot 36-of-75 (48%) from the field. Dallas held a modest edge from 3-point range, 9-of-25 (36%) to Chicago’s 7-of-22 (31.8%), and finished with 23 assists against just 5 turnovers, which it turned into 11 points off Chicago miscues compared to 9 for the Sky. No Chicago player had more than 3 assists. Dallas also won the battle on second-chance points (17-9), the fast break (13-12) and bench scoring (22-17), despite Chicago’s 54-38 edge in points in the paint. Rookie Sydney Taylor led Chicago with 20 points, Azurá Stevens and Kamilla Cardoso each posted double-doubles, and Natasha Cloud scored 15.

The win was Dallas’ fifth straight, a season high and the Wings’ longest winning streak since also reeling off five in a row in 2023 — just the fourth time Dallas has strung together five straight wins since relocating to North Texas in 2016, following 2018, 2022 and 2023. Dallas improved to 16-8. Chicago fell to 7-16. The game had nine lead changes and was tied three times.

Sunday’s collapse continued a season-long trend for Chicago against Dallas. The Sky led each of their three meetings with the Wings this season by double digits before losing all three: up 11 on May 20, up 17 on June 20 and up 10 Sunday. It marked Dallas’ third double-digit comeback against Chicago this season, tied for the most by a team against a single opponent in a single season in WNBA history. It was also the eighth time this season the Wings have trailed in the fourth quarter and rallied to win, tied with the Washington Mystics for the most fourth-quarter comebacks in the league this year.

Wings coach Jose Fernandez pointed to his team’s belief in itself as the reason Dallas keeps surviving those leads.

“I just think there’s a great belief in each other and a great trust in each other,” Fernandez said. “We can be down, and nobody gets worried or nervous because basketball is a game of runs. When we’re able to string stops together, that’s huge because of the offensive capability we have. We might be down seven or eight with six minutes left, but if we get three or four consecutive stops and score on three of those possessions, it’s going to be a tie game.”

Kamilla Cardoso Punishes the Post Before Paige Bueckers Takes Over

Cardoso opened 3-of-5 shooting for 6 points and 5 rebounds in the first five minutes as Chicago ran early stack pick-and-rolls to get her clean post-up chances, helping the Sky to a 14-10 lead at the first media break. Bueckers, Ogunbowale, Fudd, Awak Kuier and Shepard started for the 11th straight game. Bueckers started the game distributing rather than scoring, then broke through with a pull-up 3 out of the pick-and-roll.

Chicago tried icing ball screens against her the rest of the way, forcing her away from the screen before she found the roller with a behind-the-back pass, a read Bueckers said comes down to one key.

“In the pick-and-roll, it’s about reading the defender guarding the roller. If they’re staying home to protect the basket, it’s an easy read,” Bueckers said. “My teammates set great screens to get me open, the help defender has to commit, and then it’s just about making the easy pass.”

Dallas countered Cardoso’s size by bringing Yueru off the bench to match up against her and answered with 7 unanswered points out of the media timeout to take a 17-14 lead, forcing a Chicago timeout with 3:16 left behind buckets from Bueckers, Ogunbowale and Yueru. A 9-6 close gave the Wings a 26-20 lead after one, with Ogunbowale leading all scorers with 9 points and Bueckers adding 5 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists.

Li Yueru Answers Every Chicago Push

Chicago opened the second quarter on an 11-4 run to retake a 31-30 lead, but 5 straight points from Yueru put Dallas back in front, 35-31. The Sky answered again with a 5-0 run for a 36-35 edge before Dallas closed the half on an 11-4 run of its own for a 46-40 lead at the break.

Bueckers led all scorers at halftime with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, while Yueru matched her season high with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 1 steal through two quarters — the 7 rebounds a season high for a single half. Dallas shot 43.2% (16-of-37) in the first half; Chicago shot 46.2% (18-of-39).

Fernandez pointed to the bench as the difference in that stretch, and to the circumstances his team was playing under.

“You look at our bench production at halftime. We were up six, and the difference was our bench,” Fernandez said. “After four games on the road, everybody played and had a significant part in this victory.” Asked about clinching the season series, Fernandez added: “The more season series you win, the more that says about where your team is. We play two teams four times and everyone else three, so once you get two wins against someone, you’ve clinched that series. We came in after four road games, didn’t have a day off, only had a 45-minute shootaround and a film session before playing today. I’m really proud of where we’re at right now with 16 wins.”

Azurá Stevens and Kamilla Cardoso Turn the Third Quarter Into a Chicago Sky Party

The Sky opened the second half on a 12-2 run to take a 52-48 lead, forcing a Dallas timeout with 6:37 left in the third, then pushed further with a 10-4 spurt to a 62-52 advantage. Dallas answered with a 10-4 run of its own to trim the deficit to four, 66-62, with 1:46 to play, but Chicago closed the quarter on a 7-4 run — including a Courtney Vandersloot 3 — for a 73-66 lead entering the fourth. Chicago’s 33 points in the quarter set a season high allowed by the Wings and matched the most points Dallas has surrendered in any quarter this season. Shepard led Dallas scorers in the period with 7 points and 3 rebounds.

Stevens said feeding Cardoso down low all night was the plan, and the reason it worked went beyond her scoring.

“We really focused on getting the ball down low. That creates such a mismatch against pretty much every team,” Stevens said. “That’s one of our strengths. When we consistently get the ball inside, she’s so good at passing out of it and facilitating. It opens the floor for everybody with cutters, shooters, everything. We just have to continue sticking with that.”

Cardoso’s third quarter came with a scare. Sky coach Tyler Marsh said she tweaked something in the period but returned, and that Dallas’ second-half adjustments — not the injury — were behind her cooling off after halftime.

“Every game is different. Teams adjust. They bring more attention to her, change the angles they’re defending her with, make post entries more difficult,” Marsh said. “She missed a couple of easy ones around the rim, but that happens. I thought she came out with the level of aggression we wanted. She tweaked something in the third quarter but was able to come back, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Stevens finished with her own double-double, crediting a more aggressive approach on both ends.

“Just being more intentional and more aggressive offensively,” Stevens said. “Obviously they have great bigs over there. Awak and Jess have both been having amazing seasons, so I really wanted to lock in, help more on the boards, be intentional with rebounding, and stay aggressive on the offensive end.”

Azzi Fudd, Jessica Shepard and Arike Ogunbowale Turn the Tables Late

Bueckers scored Dallas’ first 6 points of the fourth to cut the deficit to 77-72, then an 11-7 spurt made it a one-point game, 84-83, with 4:17 left. Cloud hit two free throws to put Chicago back up three, but a 3-pointer from Fudd — who beat the shot clock, then blocked a shot on the other end — and a bucket from Shepard gave Dallas an 88-86 lead with just over 3 minutes to go. Fernandez pointed to Fudd’s aggressiveness on defense as central to the stretch.

“She got a little overly aggressive on Sydney Taylor at times, but if you look at the plus-minus and all the analytics, her defensive assignments are crucial for where we’re at right now and who she guards,” Fernandez said.

Ogunbowale extended the lead to four before a Stevens 3 cut it back to one, 90-89, with 1:28 left. Dallas answered with 4 straight points — capped by an Ogunbowale layup, part of a larger 15-5 run — to make it 94-89, before Sydney Taylor’s basket made it 94-91 with 38 seconds left. An Ogunbowale 3 with 11 seconds to go missed, but Dallas came up with a crucial offensive rebound, and Ogunbowale was fouled and made both free throws with 7 seconds left to make it 96-91. Three-point attempts from Taylor and Cloud were both off the mark in the closing seconds to seal it. Dallas is now 8-0 This season, when scoring at least 30 points in a single quarter.

Bueckers entered the night leading the WNBA in fourth-quarter scoring this season, with 138 points in the frame compared to 126 for Breanna Stewart and 122 for Marina Mabrey, and scored 8 of her game-high 22 points in the final 10 minutes. She said the late-game turnaround has become a pattern the team is trying to break.

“It’s kind of become a habit for us to do that in the fourth, and that’s something we need to change by playing that way from the opening tip,” Bueckers said. “We’re still continuing to find our identity. We’re not perfect, and tonight wasn’t even close to our best game. But we stuck together, dug in, found a way to win, and I think that’s really been the key.”

Ogunbowale and Fudd rounded out Dallas’ double-digit scorers with 17 points (6-of-14 shooting, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and a steal) and 16 points (5-of-14 shooting, 3 assists and 2 steals), respectively. Ogunbowale scored 6 of the team’s final 8 points, and Fudd’s 3-of-8 night from deep marked her seventh game this season with at least three made 3-pointers, tying her with Maria Conde for the rookie league lead.

Three Double-Doubles and a Piece of WNBA History

Yueru’s 10-point, 10-rebound night off the bench marked the fifth double-double of her WNBA career, and she went plus-17 in her minutes while matched up against Cardoso for much of the night. Combined with double-doubles from Bueckers (7-of-15 shooting, 6 rebounds, 11 assists and a block) and Shepard (9-of-13 shooting, 10 rebounds and 5 assists), it marked just the third time in Wings history — and the first since July 31, 2018 — that three or more Wings players recorded a double-double in the same game. Counting Stevens (18 points, 13 rebounds) and Cardoso (12 points, 13 rebounds) for Chicago, the game’s five total double-doubles were the most in a regulation game in WNBA history.

Shepard’s night also extended a league-leading mark: it was her seventh game this season with at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists — a feat no other player in the league has reached more than twice.

Yueru said facing Cardoso gave her confidence in her own game.

“She’s a really good player and she played wonderfully. I think I’m lucky that I have similar size to her, so I could try to push her farther away from the basket,” Yueru said. “I’m actually glad she’s playing so well because it gives me more confidence in this league. Sometimes I think maybe bigger players can’t succeed as much in the WNBA, but seeing her play well gives me confidence.”

She credited her teammates for backing her up on a bigger workload than usual.

“I appreciate all of my teammates for supporting me on both defense and offense. Even when I make mistakes, my teammates always tell me, ‘You’re good. Don’t worry about it. Just focus on this moment,'” Yueru said. “I feel really happy with this team because I think we have the best locker room.”

Fernandez credited her staying power specifically against Cardoso.

“Li helps us a lot against interior players when teams run isolations and duck-ins. She held her ground, and we needed her to do that,” Fernandez said. “Credit to her for staying ready and staying the course.”

Paige Bueckers and Natasha Cloud Bring the Heat

Bueckers pointed to Yueru’s night as evidence of the team’s depth, and she and Cloud were seen exchanging words during a physical fourth quarter.

“That’s just raw passion and raw love for the game. Two people who have a ton of love and respect for each other who both just want to win and are competitors at heart,” Bueckers said. “The dialogue back and forth between us is really just about the love of the game and us going at each other. I don’t want anybody to mistake it for disrespect. That’s what competitors do, and that’s what this game brings out of people.”

Asked afterward whether she talks trash after games like this, Li Yueru laughed off the idea. “Sometimes I can tell somebody is trying to talk trash to me, but I speak a different language,” she said. “By the time I realize they were talking trash, it’s already the next possession.”

Home-Court Energy, and a Scare for Alanna Smith

Dallas played in front of 13,236 fans, and Fernandez pointed to the crowd as a factor in the fourth-quarter push.

“In the fourth quarter, you could really feel the energy. Talk about a sixth man,” Fernandez said. “If we have a home crowd like that in this building, it’s special, and our players feed off that.”

He declined to weigh in further on ongoing discussion about the Wings playing full time at American Airlines Center rather than College Park Center. “I’m not answering that question. I got in trouble last time,” Fernandez said. “Both are great environments. College Park Center has been a really good home-court advantage. This building just holds a lot more people.”

Alanna Smith left the game in the first half with a leg injury and did not return; Fernandez said postgame he did not have an immediate update.

Natasha Cloud, Tyler Marsh Search for Answers as Chicago’s Road Trip Ends in Another Late Collapse

Sunday closed out a four-game trip for Chicago, and Marsh said the same three-and-a-half-minute stretch that has plagued the Sky in other close losses decided this one too.

“We weren’t able to execute when we needed to and weren’t able to get stops when we needed to. I thought second-chance opportunities hurt us late,” Marsh said. “It’s disappointing. You’re proud of the fight, but at this point in the season we’ve got a locker room and coaching staff that’s tired of being on this end of these games.” Asked whether Chicago plays down to lesser opponents, Marsh disagreed: “I don’t think we get up for certain opponents differently. For the final game of a long road trip, I thought we started with the right intensity. We just had breakdowns in those last few minutes that we can’t afford.”

Marsh said the decision to play Maddy Westbeld again against Dallas was matchup-driven rather than a minutes-building move, with Rachel Banham and Gabriela Jaquez also factoring into the rotation.

“Dallas has a little more height and length. In previous games we’ve played AC at more of a small-ball four, but against teams with more size we wanted to have another bigger option available,” Marsh said. “I thought we got really good minutes from Rachel today. We got good minutes from Gabs, and really everybody who came off the bench contributed.”

Natasha Cloud: ‘We’re in All of These Games’

Cloud, who called the trip Chicago’s second 10-day stretch of the season with another still to come, said the Sky’s issue isn’t effort but execution in the final minutes.

“I think the collective message in our locker room, and what I told our team, is that we’re in all of these games. Every single one of them. It’s just in those last three or four minutes we’re not executing on both ends of the floor,” Cloud said. “If we can all just be 1% better in those final four minutes, some of these games are going to turn in our favor. There’s no quit in us. There’s no ‘woe is me.’ There are human emotions after losing a game, but moving forward we’re just going to keep putting one foot in front of the other, breathe, and keep trying to get these wins.”

Cloud also used her postgame availability to address a heated exchange with a fan while she was defending Courtney Vandersloot in the fourth quarter.

“Sloot has worked her ass off this last year to come back. Nobody can really understand what she’s gone through mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually over the last year,” Cloud said. “You’re talking about someone who’s top five all time in assists, someone who’s undersized at the point but led this organization to a championship when the resources weren’t what they are today. I’m not going to tolerate disrespect toward Sloot. Imagine me coming to your job and calling you trash. I love fans, I engage with every fan base, home or away, but I’m not going to tolerate disrespectful stuff. I hope fans hear that and understand it.”

Stevens and Cloud both said Vandersloot’s presence has steadied Chicago as she works back into rhythm after an extended absence.

“She’s doing great. She’s facilitating. Obviously, it’s hard when you first come back after being out for a long time,” Stevens said. “But from the beginning we saw the impact she has just doing her job.”

“She’s also great for our group because of her presence. Through all the storms we’re going through, she’s just steady and consistent,” Cloud added. “She’s finding her rhythm, we’re all super confident in her, and we love having her on the floor.”

Up Next

The Wings host the New York Liberty on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT at College Park Center, airing nationally on Prime. Chicago returns home to host the Seattle Storm on Wednesday in a game between two teams both fighting for a playoff spot.