Paige Bueckers drops career-high 35 points in return from concussion protocol, can't lead Wings past Mercury
Paige Bueckers returned to the court on Wednesday night as if she’d never left.
Unfortunately for her, though, a career night still wasn’t enough to lift the Dallas Wings to a win.
The Phoenix Mercury fended off a massive night from Bueckers, who came back from a four-game absence in concussion protocol, to grab a 93-80 win at PHX Arena. That pushed them to 7-4 on the season
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Bueckers came out hot and had a perfect opening quarter. She went 5-of-5 from the field, hit her lone 3-point attempt and hit a wild fadeaway and-one. A layup right after that officially marked her 100th career WNBA point, too.
Despite that, the Wings still trailed by a point after the first 10 minutes. Bueckers, though, fixed that immediately in the second. She drained a 3-pointer right out of the break for her sixth-straight made bucket to give Dallas the lead.
Buckers hit one last 3-pointer before she finally missed her first shot of the night. She entered the locker room with 22 points and a new career-high in both points and made 3-pointers.
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Bueckers’ hot hand, however, didn’t last. She was held to just three points in the third quarter while the Mercury pushed their lead to double digits. They then opened the final period on a 9-4 burst to put the Wings away for good, which allowed them to cruise to the 13-point win.
Stou Sabally led Phoenix with 20 points and 10 rebounds while hitting four 3-pointers. Kitija Laksa added 14 points off the bench, and Kathryn Westbeld finished with 11 points and 10 assists. The Mercury shot 15-of-35 from behind the arc as a team.
Bueckers finished with 35 points, six rebounds and four assists. She went 13-of-19 from the field and 5-of-7 from behind the arc. Bueckers accounted for all of the team’s made 3-pointers, too. They went just 5-of-19 as a unit. DiJonai Carrington finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, and both Arike Ogunbowale and Luisa Geiselsoder each put up 10 points.
Bueckers first landed in concussion protocol on May 30, though it’s unclear when or how she actually sustained that concussion. She ended up missing four games as a result, all of which the Wings lost, but she was cleared to return earlier this week.
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The Wings selected Bueckers with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft in April after her dominant run at UConn. She entered Wednesday’s contest averaging 14.7 points, 6.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds over the first six games of her career, in which the Wings went just 1-5.
The Wings now sit at 1-10 on the season. Wednesday’s loss marked their sixth straight, and it kept them firmly at the bottom of the WNBA standings. While they clearly have larger issues than missing their star rookie, Bueckers is at least back out on the court. That’s a start.