Paige Bueckers’ WNBA debut spoiled by fellow UConn alum Napheesa Collier

Napheesa Collier scored 34 points and spoiled the WNBA debut from Uconn Alum Paige Bueckers and led the Minnesota Lynx to a 99:84 victory over the Dallas Wings at the start of the season for both teams on Friday evening.

Bueckers scored the first points of the season for the Wings, and number 1 in this year’s draft ended at 10 before a announced sale in the arena with 7,000 seats on the Texas-Arlington campus.

Collier started in the middle of the third quarter with a 13: 1 run with a bucket nearby and ended him with a free throw for a 71: 58 lead for the Lynx, which last year lost to the New York Liberty in the WNBA final.

Courtney Williams had 25 points and nine templates and Jessica Shepard had 15 points and eight rebound for Minnesota.

All-Star Guard Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 16 points. Dijonai Carrington, who was purchased in a trade outside of the season as part of a squad overhaul from Connecticut Sun after the Wings missed the playoffs in 2024, added 15 points.

Bueckers opened the gate when she drove the lane after a refined crossover move, missed the runner, grabbed the rebound and hit the putback. Their first support came to a 3-point from Carrington, which increased Dallas to 51-50 in the second half.

In the first half there was a subject that was followed on Bueckers when she was against Collier after defense. Before Collier took both free throws after a break, she and Bueckers entertained a friendly conversation in the management.

The teams combined 30 free throws before half -time, when the game was bound with 46 after Ogunbowale had made two free throws ahead of four seconds and Carrington stole the incoming pass before fed Maddy Siegrist for a layup with 1.2 seconds.

Bueckers missed her two 3-point attempts and was 3 out of 10 shootings with seven rebounds and two assists.

Reporting by the Associated Press.

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