ARLINGTON, Texas – The Golden State Valkyries were victim to a record-breaking Arike Ogunbowale 45-point masterpiece, losing 108-100 to the Dallas Wings in a thrilling overtime bout on Wednesday at College Park Center.
The first-round series is tied 1-1 with a deciding Game 3 to be played Friday at Chase Center.
The Wings came at the Valkyries with a counter-punch from Game 1 – and that punch was Ogunbowale. Her 45 points are a WNBA playoff game record, edging the previous record by three points.
Golden State went punch-for-punch throughout, bringing a tight fourth quarter that came down to the final seconds.
Golden State held a three-point lead with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Ogunbowale drained a rainbow shot over Kayla Thornton to tie the game with four seconds remaining, sending the tiny College Park Center into a deafening frenzy.
The Valkyries called timeout with a chance to win it, but referees called an offensive foul on Williams drawn by Aziaha James, which would have given Dallas a pair of free throws with three seconds left. But the Valkyries challenge call was successful, forcing a jump ball – but no one got a shot off and the game went to overtime.
Ogunbowale opened overtime with a banked 3-pointer and Gabby Williams countered with a driving layup – later, Williams tied the game 98-98 with a 3 at the top of the perimeter. Tiffany Hayes – in for Kaila Charles after she fouled out – got into a spat with James.
Hayes and Ogunbowale earned flagrant 1 fouls and each got to take a pair of free throws.
Wings 108, Valkyries 100 (OT)
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOLDEN STATE | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Thornton | 30:59 | 4-8 | 2-2 | 2-6 | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| Zandalasini | 18:57 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Stokes | 24:57 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-5 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Burton | 36:43 | 3-8 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| G.Williams | 36:54 | 12-23 | 7-7 | 1-6 | 7 | 1 | 36 |
| Salaun | 30:06 | 5-14 | 1-2 | 1-4 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| Charles | 22:56 | 5-7 | 3-4 | 1-3 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| Hayes | 15:11 | 1-3 | 4-4 | 1-3 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Chen | 8:17 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Totals | 225:00 | 34-73 | 20-23 | 6-29 | 21 | 28 | 100 |
Percentages: FG .466, FT .870.
3-Point Goals: 12-27, .444 (G.Williams 5-12, Thornton 3-4, Burton 2-4, Charles 1-2, Zandalasini 1-2, Salaun 0-3).
Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 1.
Blocked Shots: 2 (Burton, Zandalasini).
Turnovers: 10 (Hayes 3, G.Williams 2, Burton, Charles, Salaun, Thornton, Zandalasini).
Steals: 8 (G.Williams 4, Burton 2, Zandalasini 2).
Technical Fouls: None.
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DALLAS | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Shepard | 40:48 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 3-8 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| Siegrist | 9:38 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Kuier | 28:46 | 3-6 | 1-1 | 1-4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| Bueckers | 43:21 | 3-13 | 3-4 | 0-4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| Ogunbowale | 42:02 | 12-23 | 16-18 | 1-7 | 4 | 5 | 45 |
| Clark | 30:56 | 6-7 | 6-6 | 0-3 | 2 | 4 | 21 |
| James | 18:21 | 4-5 | 3-4 | 1-2 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| Sims | 11:09 | 1-3 | 3-4 | 1-1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Totals | 225:00 | 32-64 | 32-37 | 7-29 | 20 | 22 | 108 |
Percentages: FG .500, FT .865.
3-Point Goals: 12-23, .522 (Ogunbowale 5-8, Clark 3-4, James 2-3, Kuier 1-2, Bueckers 1-4, Siegrist 0-1, Sims 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 15. Team Turnovers: None.
Blocked Shots: 2 (James, Kuier).
Turnovers: 13 (Ogunbowale 5, Shepard 3, Kuier 2, Bueckers, James, Siegrist).
Steals: 6 (Ogunbowale 3, Bueckers 2, James).
Technical Fouls: None.
| Golden State | 26 | 19 | 29 | 19 | 7 | – | 100 |
| Dallas | 23 | 27 | 22 | 21 | 15 | – | 108 |
A: 6,251 (7,000). T: 2:47.
Defensive lapse: The Valkyries’ defense ramped up the pressure, picking up where it left off from Game 1. Williams picked up Paige Bueckers full court, mucking up the Wings’ spacing and forcing a handful of turnovers early.
But the Wings adjusted and started to play the fast-paced offense the Valkyries have been trying to prevent.
Often that meant getting Bueckers off the ball and having recently-named Most Improved Player Jessica Shepard, and others, take the ball up. That brought center Kiah Stokes away from the rim enough to open up driving lanes for Ogunbowale, who then found her rhythm.
Ogunbowale finished the half with a team-high 16 points and Bueckers, who had to carry the load in Game 1, had six points. Ogunbowale took off from there, going 12-for-23 from the field and 5-of-8 from 3.
The Valkyries got into some foul trouble early on – Veronica Burton and Charles fouled out in overtime – and Ogunbowale was the beneficiary. She went to the line 18 times and made 16 free throws. The Wings were 32-for-37 from the line while Golden State was 20-for-23.
Dallas’ bench filled the gaps. Alysha Clark and Aziaha James were the primary scorers other than Ogunbowale. Clark chipped in 21 points and James 13.
Bueckers went quiet, scoring 10 points.
Williams and bench lead the way: The Valkyries kept up because Williams was aggressive early looking for her shot. She created her own offense primarily and scored 18 points by the half and led the team with a team-high 36 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the field. She shot 5-of-12 from 3.
Thornton along with key bench contributions helped drive the second half push. The Valkyries reclaimed the lead behind Thornton, who scored seven points in the third quarter’s first few minutes and took a hard foul doing it.
Charles locked in toward the end of the frame, making a 3 and a driving layup at the buzzer to get the Valkyries a two-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
But the Valkyries couldn’t get enough scoring from anyone other than Williams to overcome a confident Ogunbowale.
Subscribe
There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at Valkyries fall in OT as Wings’ Ogunbowale scores 45 to force Game 3 at Chase.
