The Battle of Arike Ogunbowale and Kelsey Mitchell Was A Show, August 20th WNBA Recap
The lone 8 pm EST game was between the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings. To start the game, the Fever flew out to a 9-4 lead in three minutes. A Jessica Shepard first-quarter takeover kept the Wings in range, trailing 22-18 at the end of the first quarter. To start the second quarter, the combination of Jessica Shepard and Paige Bueckers tied this game at 24 by the seven-minute mark. It was a fight all the way until the end of the quarter, as this game was tied at 42 at halftime.
The back-and-forth pace continued throughout the third quarter, but the Wings began to separate themselves, taking a five-point lead multiple times towards the end of the quarter and leading 66-61 at the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter started with the Wings growing their lead to nine, and then the lead went to ten minutes later. The Fever never got closer than five points, and the Wings won 91-85. Arike Ogunbowale (32 points) and Jessica Shepard (26 points and eight rebounds) led the way for the Wings as Paige Bueckers helped with 13 points, eight assists, and six rebounds. Kelsey Mitchell was the star for the Fever as she had 37 points and five assists.
The first of two late games was between the Connecticut Sun and the Las Vegas Aces. It was a very competitive first quarter as the Aces went up by six at one point and the Sun responded and only trailed by one (25-24) at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw both teams have at least a four-point lead throughout the quarter, as we saw a 48-47 lead for the Aces at halftime. From this point on, the Aces took over. The Aces quickly went up 65-52 in five minutes to start the third quarter. The Sun responded a little, but the gut punch of going down by double digits hurt them.
The Aces led 75-63 at the end of the third quarter. Unfortunately for the Sun, the score grew and grew, and they could not do anything. The Aces won 101-78. Jackie Young led the way for the Aces with 24 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. A'ja Wilson, of course, did her part with 20 points, four assists, and three rebounds. Cheyenne Parker-Tyus delivered off the bench with 18 points and nine rebounds.
The final game of the night was between the Atlanta Dream and the Los Angeles Sparks. The Dream came in firing on all cylinders. The Dream went up 9-2 in two-and-a-half minutes. Then, by the two-minute mark in the quarter, the lead was 22-9. It only got worse for the Sparks, and the score was 34-12 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter is where the Sparks got some offense going, outscoring the Dream 29-28. The first-quarter deficit was just too much for the Sparks. The Aces led 62-41 at halftime. Then the Dream came back to their first-quarter form and took the lead to 30 in five minutes to start the third quarter.
The Dream led 94-62 at the end of the third quarter. The Sparks got the Dream lead down to 24, but it was too much to overcome. The Dream won 124-88. Rhyne Howard led scoring with 26 points and five assists. Angel Reese almost had a triple double has she had 20 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists. Cameron Brink was the best player for the Sparks; she had 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
There will be three games tonight. Starting at 7:30 pm EST, the Washington Mystics host the Minnesota Lynx, and the Chicago Sky host the Golden State Valkyries. At 10 pm EST, the Toronto Tempo host the Portland Fire.
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