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Arike Ogunbowale scored 22 points, fellow rookie Megan Gustafson added 11 points and eight rebounds and the Dallas Wings beat the New York Liberty 87-64 on Thursday night to move out of last place in the WNBA standings.
The Liberty fired another offensive blank. Joe Tsai’s team scored only 24 points in the second and third quarters being outscored by 19 points, 53-24. It was the fifth time in the last eight games that the Liberty hasn’t broken 70 points. It was also the team’s second straight loss and fourth straight on the road. New York is now 8-12.
Dallas (6-15) snapped a six-game losing streak with its first victory since July 9. Kayla Thornton chipped in with 14 points, and Isabelle Harrison and Allisha Gray each had 13 for Dallas. Gray had a season-high nine of Dallas’ 24 assists on 30 field goals. Ogunbowale was 7-of-12 from the field for her sixth 20-plus game.
Dallas led by as many as 30 points in the third quarter, easily topping its previous season high of 16, but did not make a field goal in the fourth until the 5:13 mark.
Kia Nurse scored 13 points for New York, and rookie Asia Durr added 10. Tina Charles finished with eight points and the team’s French import, Marine Johannes, brought in as a scoring threat went scoreless.