WNBA home teams posted a winning record on Thursday for the fourth time in the last six gamedays, bringing their record to 22-33 (.400) this season following a 7-21 (.250) start, but it was really the fans at home who came out on top. We were treated to a pair of outstanding basketball games, featuring a little bit of history in a statement win for a rising team followed by a second hard-fought game between two polar-opposite squads in under a week. Here’s what went down on Thursday:
Dallas Wings 95, Las Vegas Aces 87
Dallas erased an early 13-point lead and an 8-point halftime deficit to win for the fourth time in the last five games, handing the reigning champions a second straight loss. The Wings held Las Vegas to just 34 points in the second half while getting a historic 22-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist triple-double from Jessica Shepard, the second 20/20/10 game in WNBA history, which paced them to their fifth win a full month before they got it last season (when they only won 10 games in total). Shepard could probably tell you the other 20/20/10 game without much trouble, because she was on the wrong end of it when Alyssa Thomas did it to the Minnesota Lynx in August 2023. On this occasion, Shepard also became the first player with multiple triple-doubles this season — before anyone else has even had one — and moved into a tie for third on the WNBA career triple-doubles list with her third. That ties Caitlin Clark and Candace Parker, while only Alyssa Thomas (25) and Sabrina Ionescu (4) have had more, including playoffs.
The reigning champs allowed Dallas to score at a rate of 120.3 points per 100 possessions in the loss, according to Her Hoop Stats. They’ve allowed offensive ratings of at least 116 in all three of their losses while they’ve held their opponents to rates under 105 in all four wins (three of those ratings were under 95). The Wings’ 22-to-12 free-throw differential raised the ire of Aces coach Becky Hammon, and while I will admit that I left the Liberty’s loss to the Wings on Sunday rather annoyed with the way Awak Kuier specifically was officiated, I don’t think the zebras were the reason either team lost. In both cases, Dallas was the more aggressive team (it had a 39-31 edge on the glass tonight), which often ends up expressed in a free-throw differential. It’s also quickly turned into one of the league’s most potent offenses, and when that offense is humming and you’re not matching the aggression, you might just find it leaving you in the dust.
Golden State Valkyries 90, Indiana Fever 88
The Valkyries held on to take a back-and-forth game in their second meeting with the Fever in a seven-day span, splitting the home-and-home series. It was Golden State’s second straight win since dropping last Friday’s game in Indiana, snapping a three-game Fever win streak. Veronica Valkyrie (Burton) led the way with a season-high 25 points, matching the second-most in her WNBA career, while adding 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a rather astounding 5 blocks, given she stands 5’9”. Burton’s was the 49th 25-point/5-block game in WNBA history, but she became just the second guard on that list, joining Diana Taurasi. The Valkyries also notably put a stop to Caitlin Clark’s five-game streak with at least 20 points and 7 assists, which represented every game she’d played this season and tied her own WNBA record, and a four-game streak with at least 20/9 which was an outright WNBA record. Clark finished with 16 points, 6 assists and 5 turnovers while going 3-for-12 from the field and 2-6 from deep.