The Seattle Storm return from the WNBA’s All-Star break hoping to pick up where they left off when they host the Dallas Wings on Tuesday afternoon.
Seattle (15-8) had won four of its previous five games ahead of the break, most recently notching a 106-69 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday.
Point guard Sue Bird didn’t play in that game, but the aging superstar did feature in Sunday’s All-Star Game in Chicago.
Bird had six assists in her 13th and final ASG appearance. The 41-year-old — who has played for the Storm since they drafted her first overall out of UConn in 2002 — has said that this will be her final WNBA season.
Bird wasn’t the focus on Sunday though — Brittney Griner was. The WNBA veteran has been detained in Russia since February. In an effort to bring attention to her situation and push for her release, the All-Stars wore Griner’s No. 42 jersey during the second half.
“We just wanted to make sure at some point that we were able to, on national television, obviously in front of a (big) crowd, put Brittney’s name in the forefront,” Bird said. “That was our way of honoring her.”
Bird is averaging 8.3 points, 5.9 assists and 1.8 rebounds per game this season.
While Sunday was Bird’s final All-Star appearance, it was just the second for Arike Ogunbowale, the star of the Dallas Wings (10-12).
Ogunbowale finished her outing with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. She’s averaging 19.5 points per game this season and shooting 37.2 percent from 3-point range. She’s tied for second in the league in 3-pointers made this season with 67.
Dallas snapped a three-game slide before the break, beating the Connecticut Sun 82-71 last Tuesday behind 20 points from Ogunbowale.
“(Ogunbowale) lives for the big moments, she makes big shots and she’s always on the go,” Dallas Wings coach Vickie Johnson told Spectrum News recently.
While Ogunbowale is third in the league in scoring, Seattle’s Breanna Stewart leads the league with 21 points per game.
