ARLINGTON, TX — Any signs of life the Dallas Wings (1-8) may have shown defensively in Tuesday’s 83-77 loss at the Seattle Storm were laid to rest in Friday’s 93-79 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks (3-6) at College Park Center.
The Wings’ defense left the lane open for Sparks attackers, then, when Dallas tried to plug that leak, another one burst open along the perimeter. Los Angeles shot 35-of-63 (55.6%) from the field in the win over a Dallas defense that is circling the drain as we near the quarter pole of the 2025 WNBA season. The Wings came into the matchup 11th in a league of 12 teams in defensive rating, and Friday’s game only makes one wonder what the 12th-place defense must look like.
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The Wings dug themselves into an early hole, giving up 11 straight points by unrolling the red carpet for Sparks attackers on their way to the basket. Kelsey Plum found Azura Williams wide open for a lob off a pick-and-roll to give Los Angeles the early 6-5 lead. Williams found herself open underneath the next time down for another painfully easy bucket.
Then, the Wings’ defense parted before Dearica Hamby as she took a leisurely stroll through the lane to put the Sparks up 10-5 three minutes into the proceedings. Hamby took a different route — this time down the baseline — but the result was the same, another easy drive for a deuce a little more than two minutes later, to make it 15-7.
Plum took Ty Harris to the rack with 2;20 left in the first to give the Sparks a 19-10 advantage — but hey — at least that make was contested. Plum chided the officials for a foul call on her way back down to the defensive end of the floor. But even with a firm disinterest on the defensive side of the ball, Dallas pulled to within four, down 21-17, on Teaira McCowan’s three-point play with 36 seconds left in the first.
“We’re just trying to figure it out,” Wings head coach Chris Koclanes said. “It just seems like we can’t get everybody on the same page. It hurts when you don’t have a Paige [Bueckers] and a Ty Harris, who are people who really bring organization on the offensive end, it challenges you in different ways. … And now you’re asking DiJonai [Carrington] to play point guard, and she’s played great the last two games. Tonight, she struggled. Just got to stick with it. It starts with me. I’m not going to make excuses.”
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Bueckers sat out her third game in a row Friday, still in the WNBA’s concussion protocol after reporting headaches after a recent loss at the Chicago Sky. Carrington led all scorers with 16 points, to go along with four assists and two steals, against the Sparks but turned the ball over seven times in the loss.
Somehow, some way, the Wings were still in the game at the end of one, but the leaky defense festered in the second quarter. The Sparks connected on four of their first seven 3-point attempts in the second, including two from Stevens and two more from Odyssey Sims, who scored 19 in the win. Stevens, who led all scorers with 21 points, hit her second on an open look from the left wing with 4:30 left in the first half to make it 37-27 and force a Dallas timeout.
Making matters worse, all this happened before Arike Ogunbowale hit her first shot. The seventh-year vet and last year’s second-leading scorer (20.2 points per game) was 0-for-3 from the field to that point. Ogunbowale made her first bucket of the night on a pull-up jumper from DiJonai Carrington with 4:05 left in the second quarter. She scored just eight points on 4-of-10 shooting in the loss.
But yet, even still, Dallas found itself in the middle of a winnable game at the half, down just 45-40. The Wings need to muster the ability to win games like this one — it’s a crucial first hurdle to get over in building something (anything) for the future. Alas, though, Carrington threw the ball away on the Wings’ first possession of the third quarter to provide Sparks forward Rickea Jackson with yet another easy scoring opportunity in transition to set the tone for the second half.
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The response from the Wings this year after serving themselves a heaping spoonful of adversity has often been a valiant one. Dallas closed the first half with a little flurry of inspiration and played well for short stretches at a time to get back within four or five points of the Sparks’ lead in the third quarter as well. There’s something to be said for that. But there’s something better to be said for keeping your fingers away from the hot stove after that stove has burned you seven times before.
Plum and Jackson continued to burn the Wings on drives to the bucket down the stretch in the third quarter to extend LA’s lead to 67-55 going into the fourth. The Sparks scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to seal the deal, up 76-55 with seven minutes and change left to play.
The interior defense was concerning, as Hamby, Stevens and Mercedes Russell dominated the smaller Dallas frontcourt for easy looks inside all night long. What was even more concerning, though, is that the Wings’ stomach for the fight eventually gave out, devolving into outbursts of frustration and needless chirping at the officials down the stretch. There is no one for the Wings to blame for this latest no-good, very bad loss but themselves.
“We continue to address it, but we know right now we continue to give away too much attention to adversity and to officials, and we’ve got to change it,” Koclanes said. “Continue to challenge our group to play more poised and more positive snap back in, because one possession turns into two and then turns into three.”
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If you’re looking for a ray of sunshine through the clouds of the Wings’ current four-game losing streak, look no further than center Luisa Geiselsoder, who scored 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds in the loss to LA. The unfortunate corollary to her recent stretch of solid play down low is that she will soon step away from the Wings for Eurobasket competition, which starts June 18. She needs more minutes on the floor before she leaves to solve some of the things that plaguing this Wings team early on this season.
Azura Stevens #23 of the Los Angeles Sparks handles the ball as Luisa Geiselsoder #18 of the Dallas Wings defends during the second half at College Park Center on June 6, 2025 in Arlington, Texas.
“[Geiselsoder], one, [brings] a consistent energy and effort,” Koclanes said. “And two, [she’s] a smart piece that is a connector on both sides of the floor. A communicator who understands schemes defensively, is there early and executes.”
With the loss and the Connecticut Sun’s win on Friday over the Atlanta Dream, the Wings are the last remaining team in the WNBA with just one win on the year. Dallas will try to get the wheels back on this thing in a Sunday matinee against the 8-0 Minnesota Lynx, who have already beaten Dallas twice this season.
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It may get a little worse before it gets any better.
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