Dallas Wings of America star, Arike Ogunbowale was the better of two Nigerian-born female stars in action on the last day of the season in USA’s Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) league, but she got the better of the more popular Nneka Ogwumike.
Ogwumike, who tried to play for Nigeria at the recent Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, but was declared ineligible because of her previous outings with USA, toiled in action for Los Angeles Sparks but her efforts were not good enough.
Megasportsarena.com gatheed that, heading into the game, Ogwumike and her teammates knew that victory would grant them a spot in the post-season, but their aspirations came to nought.
Such was Ogwumike’s woes, as Dallas Wings – with nothing to gain – held them off 87-84, mostly thanks to 20 points from Ogunbowale and 14 off the bench for Isabelle Harrison on 7-7 shooting.
The Wings’ victory kept Ogwumike’s side from earning the eighth and final spot in the playoffs and allowed the New York Liberty to head to the postseason.
The Sparks, Washington and New York all finished the season at 12-20 but the Liberty advanced because they own the head-to-head tiebreaker against both the Sparks and the Mystics.
Dallas had already clinched the seventh seed in the playoffs and will open the postseason in Chicago on Friday night.
The Wings (14-18) led by 10 points heading into the fourth quarter and by a game-high 13 a minute into the final period.
Los Angeles got as close as three points after a three-pointer by Erica Wheeler with 7.4 seconds left but could claw no closer.
Marina Mabrey went for 16 points off the bench for Dallas, with Allisha Gray scoring 12, while Te’a Cooper led all scorers with 24 points.
Wheeler scored 22 and Ogwumike had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Sparks. Only seven players saw action for short-handed Los Angeles, and as a result, by the end the Sparks simply ran out of gas.
