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Paige Bueckers’ homecoming in Minneapolis didn’t quite go as she might have hoped.
Bueckers and the Dallas Wings dropped their third straight game to open the new WNBA season on Wednesday night. While they mounted a bit of a comeback late, the Minnesota Lynx held on to grab the 85-81 win at the Target Center, which spoiled Bueckers’ first professional game back in her hometown.
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The Wings came out hot on a 15-5 run on Wednesday, though that almost immediately fell apart. The Lynx responded with a 16-3 run of their own to take control of the game right back by the end of the first quarter.
The Lynx then pushed their lead to double digits late in the third quarter, and nearly entered the locker room with a 10-point advantage after Natisha Hiedeman’s wild half court shot at the buzzer went in. Her shot was deemed just barely too late, however, and the Lynx’s lead was cut to seven.
Bueckers struggled in the first half, too. She went just 1-of-6 from the field and didn’t score until late in the second quarter when she finally hit a 3-pointer.
Napheesa Collier dropped 12 points in the third quarter, including a 15-footer right before the buzzer, to keep the Wings at bay over the next 10 minutes. Bueckers drilled her second 3-pointer of the night just a few minutes into the fourth quarter, and then DiJonai Carrington drilled one of her own a few minutes later to make it a one possession game. Then after a bit of a fight down the stretch, Arike Ogunbowale drilled a 3-pointer from the wing with just 39 seconds on the clock to keep the Wings in it.
But Collier hit a pair of free throws after that, and Bueckers missed a last-ditch 3-pointer, which gave the Lynx the four-point win. That kept them a perfect 3-0 on the season, and dropped the Wings to 0-3.
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Collier led the way for the Lynx with 28 and eight rebounds while shooting 8-of-13 from the field. Alanna Smith and Courtney Williams added 13 points a piece, too. The Lynx had 27 assists on 28 made field goals as a team, too, and out-rebounded the Wings by 16.
Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 21 points and five assists, and Myisha Hines-Allen added 11 points. Bueckers dropped 12 points and 10 assists in the loss for Dallas. She shot 3-of-11 from the field and 2-of-5 from behind the arc.
Bueckers grew up in Hopkins, Minnesota, a suburb on the southwestern side of the Twin Cities. She led her high school to a state title in 2019 while earning the Gatorade National Player of the Year, which helped kickstart her remarkable run at UConn. So, earlier this month ahead of Bueckers’ first career WNBA game, Hopkins changed its name to honor her.
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The town, for a single day, became “Paige Bueckers, Minnesota.” There were countless events throughout the town, including a watch party for the Wings’ season opener. That game was coincidentally also was against the Lynx, just in Dallas.
While Wednesday’s game wasn’t great for Bueckers, she at least got to play it in a familiar place and cross off a major milestone. And, as she’s still just three games into her WNBA career, Bueckers should have plenty of more chances ahead of her to win at the Target Center — starting when the Wings travel back to Minneapolis on Sept. 1.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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