Entering 2025, many analysts pegged the Dallas Wings roster as a dark-horse playoff team, led by the backcourt pairing of No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers and four-time WNBA All-Star Arike Ogunbowale.

Her star was born less than 10 miles from the Target Center in St. Louis Park and Hopkins High School. She knows how the ball bounces on this floor and she is intimately familiar with how the cheers and boos echo off the walls here.