WNBA Report: Wings Fly Past Liberty 98-88 in Rematch at Barclays

By Andy Lipton

 

 

NEW YORK - Back on June 11, the New York Liberty went on a third quarter tear 34-17 to beat the Dallas Wings at Barclays 102-93. 

 Wednesday afternoon the Wings flew back to Barclays after the All-Star break and won the rematch keyed by a big third quarter.  

The only team in the WNBA to defeat both the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty, the Wings, if you hadn’t recently noticed, sorry Ms. Jackson, are for reeeeeeal, winning six out of their last seven games.

 

Before Wednesday’s game it was clear that the Wings have a very good team this season.

One pressing question I had left you with the other day in the story “How High Can the Dallas Wings Fly?” http://womhoops.blogspot.com/2023/07/wnba-how-high-can-dallas-wings-fly.html was “Will fatigue play a role in how far they go?” as three of their top players, Arike Ogunbowale, Natasha Howard, and Satou Salably had averaged heavy minutes before the All-Star break.

 

Wednesday’s game against the team with the second-best record in the W, may have provided a preview to the answer to the fatigue question, as Coach Latricia Trammell trusted her bench to play over 50 minutes. 

 Except for Ogunbowale, who played over 35 minutes, nobody played over 30 minutes, with Howard and Sabally playing a little over 28 and 27 minutes, respectively.

 

Coach Trammel had her whole bench playing together as a second unit at the end of the first quarter and stayed with them to start the second quarter, showing trust in them and resting her starters for a stretch. 

In the second quarter, reserves Awak Kuier, Kalani Brown and Odyssey Sims all played at least five minutes and Maddy Siegrist played over four minutes. 

 

The Wings won the first quarter 25-20.  

This trust in the second team may have resulted in the Liberty winning the second quarter and leading at the half 51-49.  

But it paid off the rest of the game as this allowed the starters to be rested and not fatigued in the second half of the game and they took a good lead by the end of the third quarter, 78-67.

 

And Trammell still used her bench in the third and fourth quarters and they responded. 

 The 6’6” Kuier who also played over three minutes in the first quarter, played five and four minutes in the 3rd and 4th quarters, respectively.  She played a a terrific game using her height to defensive advantage and showed a nice touch inside and out, shooting 3 for 4.  

Coach Trammell has been giving her more and more minutes recently and she is responding.

 

With the score 83-67 Wings in the 4th quarter at around the 7- minute mark, the Liberty made a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 86-77 with a little more than 5 minutes to go in the game.  

After calling timeout, Trammell gave Teaira McCowan a rest and trusted her reserve center Brown, who had just missed a few games while going through concussion protocol, to come in at a crucial point in the game.  

Brown came in and held down the fort until McCowan returned at the 1:39 minute mark and the Wings ahead 94-82.  

 

And Trammel had veteran playmaker and defender Odyssey Sims play important minutes down the stretch to keep the team under control and milk the clock for a few possessions, Sims came into the game in the 4th quarter at the same time as Brown.  

Sims played the rest of the way, scoring one basket and having one steal and two assists during that time.

 

And maybe, just maybe, an exception to the fatigue concern is Arike Ogunbowale, who, if she was a golfer could probably walk and play 54 holes of golf in a day and not be tired.  She played over 35 minutes in this one.

 

As one of the all-time great players, Diana Tarausi, closes in on 10,000 WNBA career points, one comparison that’s easy to make between Ogunbowale and Tarausi, is that both have a love affair with the game of basketball. 

It’s easy to envision both of them finding games to play, be it in a Rec or YMCA league, after they each retire from a long professional career.

 

Coach Trammel is astute in her matchups and adjusting those matchups. If Wednesday is an indication of the rest of the season, factoring in rest for her starters may be a common adjustment going forward, and one that might pay off in the long run.