Arike Ogunbowale poured in 22 points, while Paige Bueckers and Odyssey Sims each added 20, leading the Dallas Wings to a 107-104 season-opening win over the Indiana Fever on Saturday in Indianapolis.
Jessica Shepard contributed 13 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists for Dallas, who scorched Indiana with 25 fast-break points.
Sims, a key piece of Indiana’s playoff run last season, fueled the Wings with 12 points after halftime and hit one of two free throws in the final seconds of regulation. Caitlin Clark missed a 32-footer, and Indiana fouled Bueckers on the rebound. However, Bueckers missed both free throws with 1.4 seconds left, giving the Fever one last look. With Clark smothered by defenders on the inbound, Kelsey Mitchell launched a tying three-pointer, but it rimmed out.
Mitchell powered Indiana’s comeback with 11 of her game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter. Aliyah Boston finished with 23 points, while Clark tallied 20 points, seven assists, and four rebounds, shooting 2-for-9 from deep in her first WNBA game since July 15, 2025, after a season-ending groin injury.
Neither team led by more than nine points in a back-and-forth battle between efficient offenses. The Wings shot 59.1% from the field and 12-for-23 from three-point range, while the Fever hit 51.9% overall but only 7-of-24 from deep.
Clark left the bench late in the third quarter and returned with a black wrap around her lower back. She re-entered and hit the final layup of the period to tie the game at 80, giving her 10 points in the quarter and pushing her past 1,000 career points in her 54th game. Clark did not start the fourth quarter but emerged from the locker room shortly after, presumably after further treatment.
Sims’ fast-break layup made it 97-90 with under four minutes to play, but Mitchell answered with a three-pointer, a free throw, and a three-point play to cut it to 99-97. Bueckers responded with a 20-footer. Boston missed the second free throw of a pair but stole the rebound from Bueckers and laid it in to make it 101-100. The Fever then forced a five-second violation but came up empty on offense.
Alanna Smith scored for Dallas, and Sims hit a shot over Clark to extend the lead to 105-100 with 36.4 seconds left.
After the Fever jumped ahead early in the second quarter on consecutive three-pointers by Cunningham and Boston, No. 1 overall pick Azzi Fudd scored her first career points on a corner three, and Ogunbowale’s triple tied the game at 35. However, Fudd finished her WNBA debut with just those three points and one steal in 18 minutes.
Neither team led by more than five until the final minute of the half, when Aziaha James knocked down two three-pointers and Ogunbowale added one in between to build a 60-51 Dallas lead.
