Paige Bueckers, Wings rally to earn season sweep of Sky

Paige Bueckers recorded game highs of 22 points and 11 assists to lead the surging Dallas Wings to a gritty 96-91 victory over the visiting Chicago Sky on Sunday night.

Dallas (16-8) won its fifth straight game and swept the season series from Chicago (7-16). The Sky had a double-digit lead in all three contests against the Wings this season and lost all three.

The Wings led by as many as six points in the first half and by that margin at halftime, 46-40, before Chicago roared back behind 64.7% shooting in the third quarter (11 of 17) to go up by as many as 10. The Sky outscored Dallas 33-20 in the quarter and carried a seven-point advantage into the final 10 minutes.

But that's when the Wings responded, pulling even at 86 when Azzi Fudd's 3-pointer with 3:42 left capped a 14-6 Dallas run.

The Wings went back in front on Jessica Shepard's runner with 3:07 remaining and stoked the margin to five points when Arike Ogunbowale grabbed a rebound and went the length of the floor for a layup with 42 seconds to play.

Chicago pared its deficit to 94-91 on Sydney Taylor's layup with 38.7 seconds left but would get no closer and lost for the fourth time in its past five games.

Shepard finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Ogunbowale had 17 points, Fudd scored 16 and Li Yueru racked up 10 points and 10 boards.

Taylor led Chicago with 20 points. Azura Stevens added 18 points and 13 rebounds, Natasha Cloud hit for 15 points and Kamilla Cardoso ended up with 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Sky.

Both teams held the lead in the opening quarter, with the Sky going up by as many as five points early before Dallas jumped to the front on Ogunbowale's jumper at the 3:45 mark of the period. The Wings expanded the margin to six points via an Ogunbowale 3-pointer with 28 seconds left in the first quarter.

Chicago surged back on top at 36-35 on Taylor's layup six minutes into the second period. The Wings scored the ensuing six points to rebuild their lead to 41-36 and carried a 46-40 advantage into the break.

Bueckers paced the Wings with 12 points in the first half while Yueru had 10 for Dallas. Cardoso led the Chicago offense with eight points and nine rebounds by halftime.

--Field Level Media