Jessica Shepard put up 17 points and 10 rebounds on Sunday night, her 22nd double-double of the season, and the Dallas Wings beat the Connecticut Sun 97-71 in Arlington in the last game before the FIBA World Cup break.
The Associated Press said the double-double ranks second in the WNBA behind Angel Reese's 29 and extends the franchise record. CBS Sports' box lists Shepard with four assists, 4-for-6 shooting, and 9-for-11 free throws in 25 minutes. Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 18 points. Paige Bueckers added 15 points and six assists. Maddy Siegrist scored 11.
Dallas is 24-16 after a fourth straight win and has its most victories in a season since 2007, when the franchise also won 24 games as the Detroit Shock. ESPN and CBS Sports carried an AP correction that the Shock won 24 games that year, not 24 straight. An earlier AP version still posted on TSN used the uncorrected phrasing.
The Shock's franchise-record 25 wins came in 2003 on the way to the first of three WNBA titles. The Wings sit in a three-way tie with New York and Washington for sixth, two games behind Indiana and Atlanta.
The 11-10 lead that lasted 11 seconds
Saniya Rivers' driving layup gave Connecticut its first lead about four and a half minutes in, 11-10. Bueckers scored inside 11 seconds later, and Dallas did not trail again, the AP reported. CBS Sports' play-by-play credits Shepard with the assist on that Bueckers layup.
Aaliyah Edwards scored 21 of a career-high-tying 26 points before halftime for the Sun (10-30). Charlisse Leger-Walker made five 3-pointers and finished with 17. ESPN's quarters show Dallas up 32-18 after one and 60-47 at the half, a 13-point margin the AP cited.
Shepard was already in the middle of the first-quarter burst. CBS Sports' play-by-play has her converting two free throws for a 6-2 lead, then a short jumper and the extra free throw that made it 22-14, then a layup that pushed Dallas to 27-16. She added a layup early in the second that made it 38-23.
