Paige Bueckers went 4-of-4 in the fourth quarter and extended her career-long 25-point streak to four games as the Wings rallied past the Sun 86-83.
Paige Bueckers has made a habit this season of taking over the fourth quarter. On Wednesday night, she did it without missing.
Bueckers went a perfect 4-of-4 from the field in the final period, scoring 11 of her game-high 25 points as the Dallas Wings erased a 14-point deficit and beat the Connecticut Sun 86-83. It was her fourth consecutive game with at least 25 points, the longest active streak in the WNBA and the longest of her career.
"My teammates did a really good job of screening for me, getting me open off ball screens, getting me open in transition," Bueckers said. "It was just a full team effort in terms of us stepping up in the fourth quarter. So many different people stepped up throughout the entire 40 minutes, and we just played a full game and didn't quit until the final buzzer."
The closing stretch featured a pair of three-point plays that Bueckers manufactured out of broken situations. She converted an and-one to cut the lead to one, then another that pushed Dallas ahead 81-78.
"Lacan jumped the pass on the inbound, so I was just trying to create something. Jess made a really good pass, and I obviously felt contact and just kind of threw it up," Bueckers said. "The second one, my teammates did a really good job of spacing the floor, and I was just trying to be aggressive and hunt the shot."
For a team that shot just above 30% in the first half and trailed 43-35 at the break, Bueckers said the belief never wavered.
"I think making shots. Sometimes it's as simple as that," Bueckers said. "We were shooting just above 30 percent at halftime, but we still felt very confident in the shots we were getting."
Coach Jose Fernandez has run out of ways to be surprised by his star, and he pointed to her refusal to shrink in big moments as the trait that defines her.
"She does things every single day that you're not surprised by anymore," Fernandez said. "She's such a competitor and such a winner. She refuses to lose. She never shies away from the big moment. That's everything."
The 25-point streak has coincided with Dallas playing its best basketball, and Bueckers has paired the scoring with playmaking, adding seven rebounds and seven assists against Connecticut. The Wings improved to 12-8 with the comeback, one that required them to outscore the Sun 51-40 after halftime.
The Wings visit the Toronto Tempo on Sunday.
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