Dallas’ nightmare 2025 season continued as the Wings squandered an 11-point halftime lead vs. Washington.
Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers dribbles past Washington Mystics guard Jade Melbourne during the third quarter of a WNBA game, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, in Arlington. The Mystics defeated the Wings 91-78.
They didn’t do that on Sunday afternoon at College Park Center, falling 91-78 to the Washington Mystics despite an 11-point halftime lead and a 17-point performance from rookie Paige Bueckers, who finished 5-of-9 from the floor with three rebounds, three assists and two steals in her return from a back injury. Dallas shot 40% from the field and 60% from three in the first half, but by game’s end those numbers were 37% and 35%, respectively. Washington outrebounded Dallas 34-26 and shot 54% from the floor on Sunday, scoring the bulk of its points after halftime. “I think defensively, we just weren’t very good in the second half at all,” Wings forward Maddy Siegrist said postgame. “They’re a good team. We can’t give them wide open looks, wide open slips. We just did a poor job all the way around.”Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington's A La Carte.Dallas has lost games by an average of 10.8 points and 14 of the Wings’ 24 losses this season came by 10 points or less. Many times this year, the Wings have been right there with their opponents, but one bad quarter or sequence has usually done them in. On Sunday, it was the third quarter. The Wings led 41-30 at halftime before Washington outscored Dallas 33-17 in the third for a five-point advantage. The Wings gave up 61 points in the second half, as the Mystics ran away with the game. “I wish I had an answer ,” Wings coach Chris Koclanes said. “Is it my halftime speeches? Maybe. I’ve got to be better there, but we’ve just got to be better. We’ve just got to sustain.”Why they haven’t been able to finish games could be attributed to a variety of factors, from injuries to roster turnover to defensive breakdowns to youth. Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, is just one player in what is a young Wings core. She’s been playing alongside three other rookies in Aziaha James, JJ Quinerly and Luisa Geiselsöder. Six Wings players are 25 or under and all but one is in their thirties.But many fans and observers have blamed the first-year head coach for why the Wings, who have only had one winning season since the organization moved to Dallas in 2016, for why the team hasn’t been able to win more games. Before Sunday’s contest forward Myisha Hines-Allen said Koclanes, who described himself as his harshest critic in Sunday’s postgame press conference, deserves more grace. “We’re all behind Chris. It’s his first year and I think that gets tossed around,” Hines-Allen said pregame. “He has a whole new roster. It wasn’t like this was a Dallas team coming in from last year or the previous years.”Koclanes is also the Wings’ fifth coach since 2016 and fans are calling for another new person to lead the team, which made the Western Conference Finals in 2023 under former coach Latricia Trammell.sported a “Nola For Head Coach” shirt. Hines-Allen confronted the fans directly, asking them to get behind the team and Koclanes. “My biggest thing is if you’re gonna show up here, we need all the support we can get,” Hines-Allen told reporters pregame. “It’s a home court advantage. We need the home court advantage. That’s not a home court advantage, in my opinion.” And the Wings have needed that home court advantage. Five of their eight wins this season came at College Park Center. They couldn’t make it a sixth on Sunday.“I think we all are frustrated with losing,” Bueckers said. “We’ve talked about it enough. I think we just need to put action behind our words.”Myah Taylor Myah Taylor covers high school sports and the Dallas Wings. She formerly worked as a Collin County reporter for The Dallas Morning News. Taylor has contributed to the Austin American-Statesman, Yahoo Sports, the Los Angeles Times and Texas Monthly. She is a 2022 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
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