DALLAS — The energy was a little different at College Park Center on Friday. Paige Bueckers made her WNBA debut for the Dallas Wings against the Minnesota Lynx, and the home team sold out the building.
Ron Thulin, who has been the Wings’ play-by-play broadcaster for 10 years, said this was the most excited he’d ever felt for opening night.
Cheryl Reeve, who has been in the WNBA nearly since its inception starting with her first job as an assistant coach in 2001, said pregame she was “thrilled that I’m still in it after all these years to finally get a chance to experience the greatness that is the WNBA.”
That greatness came in many forms in the opening game of the 2025 season between Dallas and Minnesota, with four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale, 2024’s most improved player DiJonai Carrington and 2025’s No. 1 draft pick Bueckers all having stretches of brilliance for the hometown Wings.
But it was last year’s MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier who shined the brightest with 34 points in the Lynx’s 99-84 win.
The Lynx, the 2024 WNBA runner-ups, were down two starters (Kayla McBride and Alanna Smith) but seamlessly reintegrated Jess Shepard, who returned from a one-year hiatus from the league, and got great bench minutes from Diamond Miller, who had 13 points and…
