The Dallas Wings were seconds away from seeing their season come to an end. Trailing the Golden State Valkyries 93-90 with 14.6 seconds left in regulation, Dallas needed something special to keep its playoff run alive. Arike Ogunbowale got the ball from Paige Bueckers, moved toward the corner, and knocked down a contested three to tie the game.

That shot sent the game into overtime, where Ogunbowale continued to take over. The Wings eventually pulled away for a 108-100 victory, forcing a decisive Game 3 in the first-round series. Her performance was so dominant that even Skip Bayless was left praising what he had just witnessed.

“I just witnessed the greatest WNBA clutch playoff performance ever – a W playoff record 45 points by Arike Ogunbowale, including an astonishingly clutch contested rainbow heave from the deep corner to force overtime … all this with Paige Bueckers struggling (3-13),” Bayless wrote in an X post.

Ogunbowale had already kept Dallas within striking distance throughout the game, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter before adding another 11 in overtime. When the Wings needed someone to take responsibility for the biggest shots, she kept demanding the ball.

The result was a 45-point performance in 42 minutes, setting a WNBA playoff record for points in a single game. Ogunbowale also finished with seven rebounds and four assists while shooting 12-of-23 from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range.

Before Ogunbowale’s performance, three players had reached 42 points in a WNBA playoff game. Angel McCoughtry did it in 2010, Breanna Stewart matched the mark in 2022, and Napheesa Collier reached 42 points in 2024. Ogunbowale pushed the record to a completely different level on a night when Dallas had no room for another loss.

For Ogunbowale, though, the record was not what mattered most.

“It’s special,” Ogunbowale said after the game. “There’s so many great players to come through [this league], but I mean, we gotta do something in the playoffs. I can have this, it’s always a blessing- obviously, thank God anytime you can reach a milestone- but winning is more important.”

She had already made up her mind about taking that late three before the ball reached her.

“We wanted to come out with a different intensity,” she added. “I was going to shoot regardless.”

The No. 1 overall pick had averaged 20.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists during the regular season, but Game 2 was a very different story. Bueckers finished with 10 points and shot just 3-of-13 from the field while playing 43 minutes.

With Bueckers struggling, Dallas needed other players to step up alongside Ogunbowale.

Ogunbowale wasn’t the only Wing who came through

Alysha Clark provided another major boost for the Wings. The veteran had averaged only 2.6 points in 11.4 minutes per game during the regular season, but she found her rhythm when Dallas needed it most.

Clark scored 21 points while shooting 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range. Her production gave the Wings another offensive option while Ogunbowale handled the biggest moments.

“I’m so proud of our effort and the way we fought,” Clark said after the game. “We played hard from start to finish. The sense of urgency was real.”

The Valkyries had their own standout performance from Gabby Williams, who scored a career-high 36 points. But Golden State could not contain Dallas once the game reached its most important stretch.

Kiah Stokes, meanwhile, had a difficult night on the other end of the floor, finishing without a point despite playing 25 minutes.

Now the Wings have to do it all over again.

Bueckers knows that a decisive Game 3 will require everything Dallas has left, after the team had to fight through another elimination situation in Game 2.

“My heart, my body, I don’t want to actually die out there, but I want to feel like I’ve been after the game. Just everything I have, everything we have as a team, just unconditional gratitude for the journey that we’ve been on. And just a fire and a passion and a relief for our community,” Bueckers said in her postgame interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

The Wings now have the momentum of a dramatic comeback, but the Valkyries still have home court for the deciding game. Dallas will need more from Bueckers, while Ogunbowale will be coming off one of the biggest scoring performances in WNBA playoff history.

The Minnesota Lynx have already been eliminated despite entering the postseason as the No. 1 seed, showing how quickly a playoff series can turn. Dallas now has one more opportunity to produce an upset of its own.

And after Ogunbowale’s 45-point night, the biggest question is whether the Wings can get enough from the rest of their lineup to help her finish the job.