The Dallas Wings no longer need help from the standings board. They need a Thursday night result from someone else.
A 103-91 win at Seattle on Wednesday finished the regular season at 27-17, clinched the No. 7 seed in the WNBA playoffs, and closed a 17-win jump from last season's 10-win club - a single-season turnaround the Associated Press described as a league record.
Atlanta's earlier win at New York had already locked Dallas into the seven hole before tipoff in Seattle, per Mavs Moneyball, but the Wings still closed with a statement performance on the road.
Paige Bueckers scored 25 points. Jessica Shepard posted 20 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists for her league-leading sixth triple-double. Arike Ogunbowale added 23 points and six assists.
The AP box and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth's report match on those lines. Awak Kuier and Bueckers hit consecutive 3-pointers after Seattle cut a late lead to six, and Dallas completed a franchise-first 4-0 season sweep of the Storm.
What the record actually measures
Last year's Wings won 10 games. This year's group won 27. NBC 5 noted that no Dallas Wings team since the franchise relocated from Tulsa in 2016 had previously cleared 22 wins in a season.
The improvement is not a branding line. It is the gap between a lottery club and a playoff club that just finished 7-1 over its last eight, with the only recent setback a one-point collapse at Phoenix on Monday.
College Park Center will host Game 2 of the first-round series next week, NBC 5 reported, with tickets already on sale. Game 1 is on the road Saturday. Game 3, if needed, would fall later in the same week. Round 2 is scheduled to open Sunday, Oct. 4, for the four clubs that advance.
The bracket still moves Thursday
Dallas will open against Golden State if the Valkyries beat the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday, NBC 5 and Mavs Moneyball both reported. If Golden State loses and Las Vegas beats Phoenix, the Aces can climb into the No. 2 seed and draw the Wings instead.
