Paige Bueckers Has Company as Wings Rookies Shine vs Mercury

James was the headline-grabber, scoring a career-high 28 points with 20 of them coming in the first half. Bueckers, who was recently named an All-Star starter, wasn’t far behind with 23 points of her own on an efficient 8/11 shooting. Quinerly also set a career-high with 17 points in addition to dishing out seven assists and grabbing five boards.

Fellow rookie starter Luisa Geiselsoder chipped in on the defensive end with four rebounds, three blocks, and a steal. The only “veteran presence” in the starting lineup was Li Yueru, who’s only played seven games for Dallas since arriving in mid-June via a trade with Seattle. Yueru was terrific again, posting her second double-double as a member of the Wings with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Dallas is now 5-2 since her arrival.

It’s been an impressive seven-game stretch for a Dallas team that began the season 1-11. And in a week that included a lot of turbulence with injuries and the trading of NaLyssa Smith to Las Vegas, Wings head coach Chris Koclanes sang the praises of his young group following Thursday’s win.

"Just really proud and excited for this group," said Koclanes. "They're just fearless and they have tremendous belief in who's in that locker room regardless of who is suiting up that night... we're just gonna keep growing one day at a time, one game at a time and building on this momentum."

It will be interesting to see how the Wings line up when Ogunbowale, Siegrist, and Carrington return. With an eye towards the future and considering how effective the rookies have been of late, Koclanes may be tempted to ride with the young guns a little bit more even when he has a healthy roster to choose from.

Either way, Dallas' rookie class does not seem intimated by the moment. The Wings are no longer the 1-11 laughingstock we saw last month. If Thursday's win over the Mercury is any indication, the future may be arriving in Dallas quicker than anticipated.

The Wings are back in action on Monday, July 7th with another face-off against Phoenix.