Wings chase playoff seed climb vs. Sun before World Cup break

The Wings tip against the Connecticut Sun on Sunday night at College Park Center already locked into the postseason, but the bracket math is far from settled. Dallas sits eighth at 23-16, a half-game behind New York, with five games left and only 3½ games separating the No. 3 and No. 8 seeds. Tonight's matchup (tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

CDT) is the last for both clubs before a two-week pause for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Berlin, which begins Sept. 4.

Clinched, then climbing

Tuesday's 96-78 win over Portland punched Dallas's first playoff ticket since 2023 and pushed the Wings to a franchise-high win total since the franchise moved from Tulsa to the DFW Metroplex before the 2016 season. It was also a third straight victory and a fourth in six games.

Paige Bueckers led that Portland night with 22 points and 11 assists, the seventh time in an eight-game stretch she has been the team's top scorer. Jessica Shepard added 21, Arike Ogunbowale 17, and Awak Kuier 12 points and 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the year.

Shepard is averaging 14.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and five assists, and Dallas ranks sixth in the WNBA in offensive rebounding at 8.6 per game.

Bueckers framed the recent surge as accountability catching up to talk. "(We) just put action behind our words," Bueckers said, according to a CBS Sports preview from Field Level Media. "We all know how to play.

But to really apply what we were talking about and do it on the court, even just watching film and our connectivity on defense ... and holding each other accountable more, having the tough conversations. That's what kind of stepped into our growth."

Home edge, World Cup exit ramp

Dallas is 13-6 at home and averages 88.8 points per game against a Sun defense that allows 87.5. Connecticut makes 5.7 threes a night; the Wings allow 8.2. Those edges matter against a visitor that is 3-16 on the road and 3-7 in its last 10, while Dallas is 5-5 over the same stretch.

Bueckers will join the United States for the World Cup; Sun forward Kennedy Burke is listed for Turkey. ESPN lists Azzi Fudd (knee) out for the season and Aziaha James (leg) unavailable; Connecticut is without Brittney Griner (knee), Olivia Nelson-Ododa (knee) and Burke (not injury related).

Sun's closing chapter

Connecticut is 10-29 and will miss the playoffs in its final season in the state before the franchise relocates to Houston for 2027. The Sun fell 111-91 at Indiana on Friday, dropping four of their past five, and sit 14th in the 15-team league, two games clear of Seattle with five contests left.

Diamond Miller scored 19 against the Fever; rookie Nell Angloma had a career-high 17 off the bench, with Aaliyah Edwards and Hailey Van Lith adding 12 apiece.

Coach Rachid Meziane, in the same CBS Sports preview, shifted the message toward development. "We're gonna try to control what we cannot control," he said. "We still have to do a lot of things.

We need to, we want to, give some more playing time to our own players. We want to develop them. We want to give them some, some minutes to express themselves.

We need to assess players for the future. So we still have some goals, even if it's not that to reach a playoff."

Dallas owns the season series: a three-point win on the road in July and an 83-63 home win Aug. 2, when Shepard scored 15 and Miller led Connecticut with 22. Team averages favor the Wings: 88.8 points, 34.1 rebounds and 21.8 assists to the Sun's 79.2, 32.6 and 19.1.

Sunday night is about banked wins before the break and how much ground Dallas can still gain among seeds three through eight. After tip at College Park Center, both sides head into the World Cup pause with the regular-season stretch run waiting on the other side.

Sources

https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/gametracker/preview/WNBA_20260830_CT@DAL/

https://www.espn.com/wnba/preview/_/gameId/401857189

https://www.wnba.com/game/con-vs-dal-1022600300