Ogunbowale, Sabally, Howard step up on offence to lead Wings past Dream

Arike Ogunbowale scored 20 of her 27 points as Dallas built a 17-point halftime lead and the Wings beat the visiting Atlanta Dream 85-78 Saturday in the season opener for both teams.

Satou Sabally added 25 points and Natasha Howard had 20 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two blocks for Dallas. Howard, a three-time WNBA champion and the league’s 2019 defensive player of the year, was acquired in a trade in January.

Ogunbowale scored 12 points — including the final 10 — in a 19-0 run that made it 33-18 when she hit a 3-pointer to cap the spurt with about six minutes left in the first half.

Allisha Gray converted a three-point play that trimmed Atlanta’s deficit to 81-78 with 1:04 to play — the closest the Dream had been since the first quarter — but Veronica Burton and Sabally each made two free throws from there to cap the scoring.

Rhyne Howard had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Dream, but made just 8 of 24 from the field. Cheyenne Parker added 18 points and 11 rebounds and Gray — acquired from the Wings via trade in January — had 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Diamond DeShields, acquired by the Wings from Phoenix via a four-team trade in Febraury, did not play. The No. 3 pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft, DeShields played about 20 minutes in the Wings’ preseason opener, but has not appeared in a game since. The team announced Wednesday that the 28-year-old guard, who won the 2021 WNBA title with the Chicago Sky, would miss “extended time” due to a knee injury.

Atlanta’s Danielle Robinson left the game with about eight minutes left in the first half and Dallas’ Teaira McCowan left early in the third quarter, due to left knee injuries and did not return.

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