Napheaes Collier scored 34 points, spoiled the WNBA debut of his Uconn Paige Bueckers and led Minnesota Lynx to a 99-84 victory over the Dallas Wings in the first game of the season for both teams on Friday night.
Bueckers scored the first points of the season for the wings, and not. 1 General selection in this year’s draft ended with 10 against a sales sale announced in the 7000 seat sand on the Texas-Arlington campus.
Collier began a 13-1 race in the middle of the third quarter with a closed bucket and finished it with a free kick for an advantage of 71-58 for Lynx, which lost to the freedom of New York in the WNBA finals last year.
Courtney Williams had 25 points and nine assists and Jessica Shepard had 15 points and eight rebounds for Minnesota.
Guard All-Star Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 16 points. Dijonai Carrington, acquired from the Connecticut Sun in a low season exchange as part of a review of the list after the wings lost the playoffs in 2024, added 15 points.
Bueckers opened the scoring when he drove the lane after an ingenious cross movement, lost the corridor, grabbed the rebound and hit the setback. His first assistance came in a triple of Carrington that put Dallas 51-50 in the second half.
A first half full of offense included one in Bueckers when he was stuck playing after the defense against Collier. Before Collier made free throws after a waiting time, she and Bueckers had a friendly conversation on the line.
The teams combined for 30 free throws before half of the time, when the game tied at 46 after Ogunbowale made two free throws with remaining four seconds and Carrington stole the incoming pass before feeding Maddy Siegrist for a tray with 1.2 seconds.
Bueckers lost its two attempts of 3 points and was 3 of 10 shots with seven rebounds and two assists.
Associated Press reports.
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