Arlington TX – The Dallas Wings remember vividly losing to the Phoenix Mercury at home in the final moments of an overtime game last month. They were determined to compete until the final buzzer Tuesday night, but no one could’ve predicted the total domination that resulted in a 101-72 victory.
“I showed them the last five minutes of our last game against Phoenix and how we let it slip away,” says Coach Fred Williams. “They got motivated by watching that film.”
Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi made the game’s first basket, a quick second shot and then she exited to the locker room with an unexplained illness. Her team definitely missed her on-court leadership, but Dallas was too much for even a complete Phoenix team Tuesday night.
For the fourth time this season, the Wings scored 100 points. This doubles their previous franchise record for a season. Center Liz Cambage was all smiles, as her team cruised to the victory. Cambage’s 13 points makes this her 19th consecutive game with double digit scoring.
Aerial Powers and Azura’ Stevens led a powerful bench performance for the Wings, scoring 18 points and 15 points respectively. Powers showed off her quickness and ball-handling skills throughout the Tuesday night rout, getting to the basket with relative ease. Stevens continues to improve in her rookie season, becoming more and more of a go-to offensive force for Dallas.
Skylar Diggins-Smith played just under 30 minutes and scored a team high of 20 points. She also had four assists and three steals.
Phoenix star Brittney Griner scored 21 points, but only had three rebounds for her team. Wings’ forward Glory Johnson challenged her for a great portion of the night, pulling down a team high – nine rebounds.
Dallas’ victory advances them in league standings, currently tying them with the defending champion Minnesota Lynx for fifth place.
Before returning to Dallas next Tuesday, the 11- 8 Wings have two tough road matchups against the Los Angeles Sparks and the Seattle Storm.
