Valkyries' prolific offense puts Wings against wall

Spurred by record-breaking guard Paige Bueckers and WNBA triple-double leader Jessica Shepard, the Dallas Wings have enjoyed a historic 2026 season.

But they find their backs against the proverbial wall as they host the powerful Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas, for Game 2 of their best-of-three opening-round playoff series.

The second-seeded Valkyries took Game 1 by a 104-80 count on Sunday in San Francisco -- their first postseason win in franchise history -- and can wrap up the series Wednesday. Golden State was swept in the first round last year during its inaugural season.

In the process, the Valkyries set a season high for points. Golden State has defeated the seventh-seeded Wings all four times they've met this season and seven straight times dating back to July 25, 2025.

"Sometimes, we want to attack, attack, attack to the point where we're running into each other," said Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase. "The discipline in spacing (in the win), the patience in terms of when we attacked was really good. When that ball is moving, it's key to our execution."

Cecilia Zandalasini had 22 points and Tiffany Hayes added 21 off the bench for Golden State in the Game 1 victory. The Valkyries outscored Dallas by 26 points in the pivotal second quarter as they produced a WNBA-record 37 points.

The Valkyries connected on 18 of 36 3-point attempts and finished with a 36-point edge over Dallas in long-distance shooting. The 18 threes tied a franchise record and rank as the second most by any WNBA team in postseason history.

Gabby Williams finished Game 1 with 20 points, while Veronica Burton and Kayla Thornton each scored 10.

Bueckers led Dallas in Game 1 with 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting. Maddy Siegrist and Kitija Laksa added 11 points apiece. But Arike Ogunbowale, Dallas' second-leading scorer in the regular season, was held to 10 points and Shepard had an atypically unproductive game. She went scoreless, grabbed just three rebounds and handed out three assists over 24 minutes.

"We've been a team that has a bad habit of letting made or missed shots dictate how hard we play on the defensive end, and this is the playoffs," Bueckers said. "So that's really unacceptable."

Dallas coach Jose Fernandez, who steered the Wings to a franchise-high 27 wins in his first season at the helm, said his team got caught up in Golden State's torrid shooting in the second quarter and could never recover.

"Your defense shouldn't dictate on how your offense is playing," Fernandez said. "We play a lot harder on the defensive end when the ball's going through the basket. And when you do that, things like this is going to happen. But you got to give Golden State a lot of credit: 18 of 36 from three. We'll watch film and see how many of those were contested and how many were not."

Expect Shepard to bounce back in Wednesday's game. Her coach certainly thinks she will.

"Jess understands, and she knows that she has to be a lot better on both ends of the floor," Fernandez said Tuesday. "I expect her to do that."

Game 3, if needed, will be on Friday in San Francisco. The winner of this series will face either defending league champion Las Vegas or Indiana in the semifinals.