DALLAS WINGS NOTES 

• The Wings played their final home game of the season for the 2018 campaign
• The Wings ended the 2018 season with a 10-7 overall record at home the second best inside College Park Center.
• Overall, the Wings are 15-18 with one more game remaining in regular season play.
• Tonight’s contest against the Aces the Wings clinched their second consecutive playoff spot solidifying the eight and final spot in the WNBA standings.
• The Wings were hot racking up the boards tonight. The ended the night with a total of 42 total boards recording 40-plus boards for the 11th time this season.
• Inside the paint the Wings led the Aces 48-38 and are 12-8 when outscoring opponents in the paint.  Four players scored double figures for the third consecutive game.

Dallas Wings Player Notes

• Liz Cambage recorded her fifth 40-plus point game of the season to end the night with 43 points. It marks as the 20th game this season she has led the team in scoring in a game.
• Liz Cambage made history once again, becoming the first player in franchise player and 15th in the WNBA to record a 700-point plus season. Cambage walked into tonight’s contest with 683 total points and ended the night with a total of 726 to go above Breanna Stewart who currently has 705.
• Skylar Diggins-Smith also recorded double figures for the night for the 22nd game this season with 23 points.
• Diggins-Smith also dished out eight assists to the lead the Wings for the 27th game this season.
• Combined, the dynamic duo of Cambage and Diggins-Smith knocked in a total of 66 points. It was two points more than the 64 points they scored on July 17 against New York.
• Glory Johnson also recorded double digits with 11 points.
• Kayla Thornton recorded her 19th double figure game of the season with 10 points.

DALLAS QUOTES 

Dallas Wings interim head coach Taj McWilliams-Franklin (On tonight’s game)

“Vegas played really hard. They are a tough team. A lot of super stars. But our players came through with a lot of energy and a lot of effort in the fourth quarter. It was a see-saw, we could never get a leg up. We just had some great plays at the end made by great players.”

(On halftime adjustments)

“We just talked about playing harder and defending. Making them go to their second move and not letting them get such easy moments in their first move. Focusing in on what we decided, and that was to keep (Aces guard Kayla) McBride from getting 38 like I think she did before. I think (Aces center A’ja) Wilson had something like 30 too. Keep playing simple basketball.”

(On making playoffs and getting first win as interim head coach)

“[It feels] like it did last year when we made the playoffs and got all those wins. I’m never enthralled with that. We all work together. It’s a team, so when the team wins, we win. It’s the same for me. When I was an assistant coach last year and made the playoffs, I was just as excited.” Dallas Wings center Liz Cambage

(On tonight’s game)

“It’s all I wanted for my birthday, to make my first WNBA playoffs. Thank you! It was a battle. I’m just happy we got a win, we’ve been dying for a win. We’re hungry and thirsty out there, and we finally got what we needed. We made it hard for ourselves losing nine in a row, but we went out tonight and left it all out there. I’m really proud of my team tonight.”

(On the team’s recent play)

“It’s been a rough month. We haven’t had a win since July 19th. Every loss , the weight got heavier and heavier. It’s been emotional. It hasn’t been an easy couple of weeks but I think it has made us stronger. We just have to focus on the future, we have to focus on Seattle and whoever the first playoff game is.”

(On her recent comments)

“I love being here. I love the league, I love this team, and I love this city. I put my body, mind, and spirit first. I’ve got this, then the world champs, then the season in China. It’s days like this on my birthday that I miss my family. I miss my mom a lot. I am an only child and they have always been family first for me. It’s not easy being on the other side without them, even with this team who are like my sisters. It is days like this that I really miss home and my family.” Dallas Wings guard Skylar Diggins-Smith

(On tonight’s win)

“It’s not easy facing you guys every single day. We’re not performing how we want to perform. People are saying stuff, media are staying stuff, fans from other teams are hitting us up. That isn’t easy to face every day. That is tough. It’s easy when you winning and you really find out who is for you when you’re losing. I think all the fans in there tonight were for us. It’s great having that support from everybody that was in those seats tonight and have been cheering and rooting for us all year. Everybody is away from our families right now but they are cheering for us. It feels great to have that support system. We haven’t had our whole team available for one game this season. We’ve had multiple games where we’ve only had nine players available. Going through that adversity is really tough, but all that matters for us, all year, was to make the playoffs.”