Injuries taking toll on Dallas Wings, who sit near bottom of WNBA standings
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
The Dallas Wings have been struggling this year, with injuries taking a major toll.
The team has dropped eight straight games and plays six of its next seven on the road. Dallas has played all season without star forward Satou Sabally (shoulder) and most of it without Natasha Howard (foot). Now the Wings are missing leading scorer Arike Ogunbowale, who is day to day with a sore Achilles tendon.
Ogunbowale is putting up the best numbers of her career, averaging 24.9 points, 5.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 steals. It hasn’t been enough for the Wings (3-10), who are one game ahead of last-place Washington in the standings.
The star guard also made news last week when she appeared on a podcast and explained that she took herself out of consideration a few months earlier for the U.S. Olympic team because she could see how politics was factoring into the selection process.
“I pretty much had an idea that I wouldn’t be on it,” Ogunbowale said. “I just felt the vibes. When it comes to that stuff, it really doesn’t have much to do with your game.”
USA Basketball confirmed to The Associated Press that Ogunbowale had withdrawn from the pool.
If she doesn’t get healthy soon, the Wings’ season may continue to spiral downward.
AP WNBA poll
New York was a unanimous No. 1 choice in this week’s AP WNBA power poll, followed, respectively, by Connecticut, Minnesota, Seattle and Phoenix. Two-time defending champion Las Vegas (6-6), which has already lost as many games as all of last season, was sixth. Atlanta was seventh, followed by Indiana, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and Dallas.
Record ratings
The rematch between Indiana’s Caitlin Clark and Chicago’s Angel Reese drew record viewership with an average of 2.25 million people watching on CBS — the most on any network in 23 years. It was more than triple the viewership of last year’s comparable game window, which featured Phoenix and New York. The Fever’s 91-83 victory over the Sky, which featured Reese being assessed a flagrant-1 foul when her arm hit Clark in the head, peaked at nearly 3 million viewers.
Caitlin corner
Clark had a solid game in Indiana’s win over Chicago, finishing with 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. That came after a rough contest against Atlanta in which the No. 1 pick had seven points, six assists and seven turnovers. Clark has a busy week with games against Washington and Atlanta before visiting Reese and the Sky on Sunday.
Rookie watch
Although Chicago has lost six of its past seven, Reese has been playing well. She’s had a double-double in six consecutive games. Reese is averaging 12.1 points and 10.2 rebounds. Her teammate and fellow rookie Kamilla Cardoso also had a double-double in the loss to Indiana. It’s the first time two rookies have had double-doubles in the same game since 2008, according to ESPN.
Player of the week
Aliyah Boston of Indiana earned AP Player of the Week honors. The forward averaged 23 points, 13.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks to help the Fever win both of their games. Ariel Atkins of Washington, Napheesa Collier of Minnesota, Kahleah Copper of Phoenix and Jonquel Jones of New York also received votes.
Game of the week
Indiana at Chicago, Sunday. There’s a budding rivalry between these teams, both of which have a lot of young talent.
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