Arike Ogunbowale scored 45 points on September 30, 2026, more than anyone has ever scored in a WNBA playoff game, and the Dallas Wings are still playing.
The seventh seeded Wings beat the second seeded Golden State Valkyries 108 to 100 in overtime to tie the first round series at one game apiece. Dallas had to win it. Her previous playoff best was 24 points.
She tied the game with a three pointer in the final seconds of regulation.
Gabby Williams answered with 36 for Golden State, which means the two biggest scoring lines on the floor both belonged to Black women. Alysha Clark added 21 for Dallas. Paige Bueckers finished with 10 on 3 of 13 shooting, and Dallas needed every one of the 45 to cover it.
Forty five in a playoff game is not a hot night. It is the whole ceiling of what this league has recorded, moved, in an elimination game, by a guard from Milwaukee who had never scored more than 24 in a postseason before.
Game 3 is Friday night in San Francisco. Winner goes to the semifinals.
If you have ever been the only person in a room who could carry a thing, and carried it, you already understand what she did Wednesday night.
