Dallas Wings point and shooting guard Arike ‘Goomba’ Ogunbowale popped into major highlights across the USA’s Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) as she set a new record of 45 points in the league’s post-season.
Sports247 reports that Ogunbowale was in top form on Wednesday night and helped The Wings pull off a tight 108-100 overtime win over Golden State Valkyries in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff matchup.
Ogunbowale dropped a WNBA postseason record for the highest number of points scored by a single player in the win for Dallas, and hit a clutch off-balance 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation to help her gallant side send the game into overtime.
Aside from personal delight for Ogunbowale, it was also a huge relief for her team, as the victory avenged a blowout loss they earlier suffered in Game 1 of the series, and they managed to force a deciding Game 3, which will take place on Friday night in San Francisco.
Apart from slowing down The Valkyries, who entered the league just last season and were looking for their second play-off series win, Ogunbowale’s 45 points surpassed a three-way tie for the WNBA post-season single-game scoring record.
Ogunbowale climbed over the previous record feats of Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart and Angel McCoughtry, who had each scored 42 in a play-off game, with the Nigerian-born lass also taking double delight in helping to keep her team in the race.
This came after Golden State picked a pretty easy 104-80 win in Game 1 of the series on Sunday night, but Ogunbowale ensured that her team kept pace this time and even outscored The Valkyries 27-19 in the second quarter to take a 50-45 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was a similar battle, though The Valkyries ended up with a two-point lead heading into the fourth, thanks to a buzzer-beating layup from Kaila Charles, but their hopes for victory were dashed when Ogunbowale took one dribble, then fired and was spot on.
After Golden State hung onto their lead for most of the final period, Ogunbowale caught a pass from Paige Bueckers in the corner and sank a wild, contested 3-pointer with just seconds left on the clock to tie the game at 93.
Sports247 reports further that Arike, who was born to Yolanda Block and Gregory Ogunbowale in Milwaukee, USA, is the youngest of three children, a cousin to basketball player Diamond Stone, and was part of four Division One Wisconsin State High School Champions soccer teams.
In her last year at Our Redeemer, Arike helped the team win the national championship title of the 2011 Tournament of Champions sponsored by the Lutheran Basketball Association of America and was named MVP of the high school’s contest.
She played college basketball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was the institution’s Most Outstanding Player in their 2018 national title run, after which she joined the Dallas Wings with the fifth overall pick of the 2019 WNBA draft. She was the All-Star MVP in 2021 and 2024.
