Wings snap 3-game skid: Bueckers scores 22 after halftime in 94-88 win over Tempo

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Paige Bueckers scored all 22 of her points in the second half, and the Dallas Wings beat Toronto 94-88 on Wednesday, handing the expansion Tempo their 10th consecutive loss.

Bueckers went 4 of 4 from the field and from the free-throw line in a 13-point third quarter after missing all seven of her shots in the first half. The Wings ended a three-game skid, their longest of the season.

Arike Ogunbowale scored 21 with season highs in free throws and attempts, going 13 of 14, and Alanna Smith had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Awak Kuier scored 14 points.

Dallas played without All-Star Jessica Shepard and rookie No. 1 overall draft pick Azzi Fudd. Shepard injured an ankle in the previous game against Minnesota, and Fudd has missed three with a knee injury.

Marina Mabrey scored 14 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter, when the Tempo got within three after trailing by 18 late in the third.

Bueckers had eight assists and three steals, including one that led to a breakaway layup for a 10-point lead with 3:03 remaining, just after Ogunbowale had converted a three-point play.

The Tempo trimmed the deficit to four points in the final minute, but Bueckers hit a jumper to get the lead back to six before Isabelle Harrison was called for a charge.

LYNX 85, FIRE 81

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Napheesa Collier had 20 points and nine rebounds, Kayla McBride scored 19 points, and WNBA-leading Minnesota nearly squandered a 29-point lead before holding off Portland.

Minnesota built a big lead by starting the second quarter on a 23-4 run for a 49-27 edge. The Lynx extended the lead to 64-35 — their largest of the game — with 8:16 left in the third.

Portland rallied by scoring the opening 13 points of the fourth — capping a 29-4 run spanning the third-quarter break — to get within 68-64. The Fire had a chance to tie it at 78 with 1:44 remaining, but Emily Engstler went 1 of 2 at the free throw line to keep it a one-point deficit.

McBride made a driving layup with 1:25 remaining for an 80-77 lead, and neither team scored again until Minnesota’s Olivia Miles sank two free throws with 26.5 seconds left for a five-point lead.

Minnesota (28-7), which has already clinched a playoff berth, has won 13 of its last 14 games.

Miles finished with 13 points and Natasha Howard had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota. McBride, coming off a career-high 43-point performance with 10 3-pointers on Sunday, made three of Minnesota’s six 3-pointers.

Bridget Carleton led Portland (13-20) by scoring 16 points against her former team. Megan DiLeo added 12 points and Teja Oblak had 11 points, six rebounds and nine assists.

VALKYRIES 91, SKY 71

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tiffany Hayes scored a season-best 22 points off the bench to go with six rebounds and five assists, Veronica Burton had 13 points and six rebounds, and Golden State overcame a slow start to beat Chicago for its fifth straight win.

Kaila Charles added 15 points and five rebounds off the bench and Gabby Williams scored 13 as Golden State won for the 14th time in its last 16 games. The Valkyries (24-9) could clinch a playoff berth by week’s end after becoming the first expansion team to reach the postseason in its inaugural year in 2025.

Hayes also had three of her team’s franchise-record 16 steals.

Golden State was without starting center Kiah Stokes as she goes through the concussion protocol and also top reserve Janelle Salaun because of soreness in her right knee.

Kamilla Cardoso scored 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting as Chicago lost for the fourth time in five games.