Dallas closed the third quarter on a 20-2 run to beat Connecticut 83-63 on Sunday. Diamond Miller led the Sun with a season-high 22 points.
Jessica Shepard and Arike Ogunbowale scored 15 points apiece, and the Dallas Wings outscored the Connecticut Sun 24-8 in the third quarter of an 83-63 win Sunday at College Park Center.
Dallas led 52-43 with 4:47 left in the period and closed the quarter on a 20-2 run. Connecticut's only points across that stretch came on Kennedy Burke's cutting layup with 3:09 remaining. The Sun shot 3-of-15 in the quarter and went 1-of-8 from 3-point range.
"I think just our intensity in the third quarter," Shepard said. "We wanted to create separation, and that's what we did. Obviously, the defensive end was a huge piece of that, and then just being able to get out and run."
Shepard added 9 rebounds and 2 assists in 22:44. Ogunbowale shot 7-of-9 from the field with 5 assists and 1 turnover in 22:42.
"She's changed, and her growth from teams that she's been on before, right," Wings coach Jose Fernandez said of Ogunbowale. "She's had to change a lot of things, going away from being a high-volume guy, right, to now sharing it, putting it down on the deck, getting downhill, right. So it's about winning, and a lot of guys in that locker room have helped us win."
Azzi Fudd added 12 points and made 4-of-5 3-pointers. The first overall pick in the 2026 draft, Fudd won the 3-Point Contest at All-Star weekend in Chicago last month. Paige Bueckers scored 6 points on 3-of-9 shooting with 4 assists and 3 rebounds in under 25 minutes. Alanna Smith started at center and finished with 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 14 minutes. She was 1-of-6 from the field.
"When we subbed her out that first time, she hadn't played those type of minutes in longevity, right? So I think she got a little winded," Fernandez said. "People are gonna remember that she didn't finish at the rim, right? But she was off balance on a couple of them, and she hit the three. I think she was one for five at halftime, I think. But I liked her activity."
Dallas outscored Connecticut 46-24 in the paint and outrebounded the Sun 38-31. The Wings shot 47.8% overall and made 7-of-18 3-pointers. Connecticut committed 17 turnovers that produced 16 Dallas points, and the Wings gave the ball away 14 times for 14 Connecticut points.
Diamond Miller led the Sun with a season-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range. She scored 14 in the first half and did not score in the third quarter.
"I think we were just trying to get into transition, pushing the ball, and just attacking who was guarding me," Miller said. "I felt like I had an advantage height-wise, so I just tried to capitalize on that as much as I could."
Olivia Nelson-Ododa grabbed 11 rebounds, more than any other player in the game. She scored 8 points. Burke finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Leila Lacan had 7 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
"Getting our second-chance opportunities, and also trying to take advantage of our size advantage, too, down there," Nelson-Ododa said. "I just know those extra possessions definitely lead to good things with our team, and I just wanted to contribute in that way."
Connecticut pulled 9 offensive rebounds and scored 6 second-chance points. Dallas had 7 offensive rebounds and also scored 6 second-chance points.
"We cannot win a game when you are losing every battle on the court. So losing in intensity, losing in effort, losing in discipline, losing in the communication," Sun coach Rachid Meziane said. "When you are playing a great team like that, we have to be almost perfect, and tonight we were too far from delivering a perfect game."
Connecticut played without Brittney Griner, who missed her fourth straight game with a left knee issue and has now sat out 14 games this WNBA season. The Sun are 1-13 in those games. Aaliyah Edwards was inactive with a right knee injury, and Hailey Van Lith was also unavailable. Aneesah Morrow was traded to Toronto on Friday, two days before the trade deadline.
"I saw too much isolation, isolation action, iso action, instead of keeping sharing the ball and looking for our inside game," Meziane said. "And defensively, we were too soft, you know? So we knew that they are capable to score some tough shots. We wanted to force them to take this contested shot, but we gave up too much layup, too much easy bucket."
Connecticut fell to 7-23 and closed a six-game road trip with five losses.
With the Wings ahead by 27 entering the fourth quarter, Ogunbowale, Shepard, Smith, and Fudd did not play in the period, and Bueckers logged 1:32. Connecticut outscored Dallas 18-11 over the final 10 minutes. Li Yueru scored 6 points in 9:20 after sitting the first three quarters. Awak Kuier scored 6 points on 3-of-4 shooting, all of it in the third quarter. Odyssey Sims finished with 9 points and made all 5 of her free throws.
"I think Li gives us a presence just because of her size, right? And her ability to body up, and her physicality, and to wall up," Fernandez said. "The things we talk about with Li, we want her to rebound out of her area more, right? And she gets her hands on a lot of stuff where maybe she can get it off the glass and finish."
Dallas improved to 19-11 and ended a two-game losing streak. The Wings made 10-of-12 free throws. Connecticut was 8-of-13.
The announced attendance of 6,251 was a sellout, and three busloads of fans traveled from Houston for the game. The Sun will relocate to Houston for the 2027 season under Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and be renamed the Comets.
Dallas plays at Washington on Wednesday. Connecticut hosts Phoenix on Friday.
