The Ball Center in Montreal gave an emphatic welcome to the Dallas Wings on Friday. The arena saw a regular-season attendance record for the second Toronto-Dallas fixture of the season in Canada. Paige Bueckers, who headlined the high-scoring night for the visitors, shared her two cents on her performance amid this record-setting night.
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“Just gratitude, like love the game so much,” Bueckers said, as per WNBA on ION. “It really is my life. And to be out here with teammates going to war with my teammates out here. I love team sport, just being out there with people I love. So, it’s just a whole lot of fun like this game is a child’s game.
“To be out on the court, it’s like your playground, it’s like your canvas where you’re just painting and making a picture out there with your teammates. So, it’s just really fun to play a selfless brand of basketball where on any given night, it can be any one of our nights. That’s the way we play.”
According to ESPN, 20,996 fans attended the game at the Bell Center, Montreal, PQ. It broke the previous regular-season attendance record of 20,711, set on September 19, 2024, at Capital One Arena during a Washington Mystics-Indiana Fever game. These numbers are a clear indication of the existing basketball market in Canada during the WNBA’s first season in the country.
Paige Bueckers made sure to put the icing on the cake during this night. Bueckers recorded a stellar performance, leading the night with a season-high 34 points, with 13 of 22 shooting from the field. She also recorded a pair of six assists and rebounds to keep the offense flowing. She chimed in well with Jessica Shepard and Arike Ogunbowale in the game, who recorded 20 points each to script a 108-95 win over the Toronto Tempo.
Following the win, Bueckers also shed light on the massive crowd turnout at the Bell Center in Montreal during an interview with the WNBA on ION.
“It’s just a good product to put on the court, and it’s everything we believe in and everything that we think we are in women’s basketball,” Bueckers said. “So, it’s great for people to come out and watch such a high-scoring basketball game.”
Despite a massive home crowd advantage, Toronto was cut short by this collective offensive performance.
Marina Mabrey and Laura Juskaite did put up some resistance for Toronto, combining for 59 points. The hosts were also leading by a point going into the fourth quarter. But Paige Bueckers’ seven points and three assists in Q4 helped the Wings explode for a 24-point quarter while holding the Tempo off to just ten points.
With this win, the Dallas Wings are now on a four-game winning streak, standing 15-8 in the season, sitting fourth in the Western Conference division. Next up, they will host the Chicago Sky at home.