Complete Team Effort by Dallas Wings Hands Las Vegas Second Loss of Season

Dallas’ Natasha Howard finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

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Arlington – The Dallas Wings (9-9) completed the team’s most poised come back of the season in Friday night’s 80-78 victory over the Las Vegas Aces (16-2).

The sold-out College Park Center crowd served as icing on the cake, as the Wings battled one of the league’s more dangerous teams. A fully available Las Vegas team took to the court Friday night. Dallas, still without Kalani Brown (head injury) showed its mental toughness in defending the high-powered Las Vegas offense.

Dallas’ starting five all scored in double figures, setting the tone for an impressive scoring outing. The team played 40 solid minutes of basketball. Even when the Wings found themselves in an 11-point hole, there was no loss of composure.

“I just told the team you can beat anybody if you stay locked in for four quarters,” says Coach Latricia Trammell. “This was major growth for us and definitely a big confidence booster.”

The decision making by 5’5” point guard Crystal Dangerfield especially helped Dallas late in the game. She was able to facilitate the offense, create her own shots, rebound and distribute the ball effectively. Dangerfield finished with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals.

Wings’ power forward Natasha Howard finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Her eight free throws were critical, especially the final two which put Dallas in the lead with 0.4 seconds remaining.

“We needed this win – we got it with grit, fight and determination,” says Howard. “The fans gave us everything that we needed tonight.”

Arike Ogunbowale was the Wings leading scorer with 21 points Friday evening. A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum led the Aces with 21 points each.

“We knew they would go on a run, but we didn’t get down on ourselves,” says Ogunbowale. “We made it a lot harder for them in the second half.”

Much like Wednesday’s competition in Las Vegas, this game was played at a very fast pace. Of all the teams to have played the Aces twice this season, the Dallas Wings have the best scoring differential against Las Vegas with a -5 differential.

For the tenth time this season, Dallas has out-rebounded their opponent – tonight Dallas grabbed 36 boards to Las Vegas’ 25.