Luisa

Geiselsöder

Despite initially being questionable for Thursday’s game due to illness, Hines-Allen played 37 of a possible 40 minutes. The Wings have been decimated by injuries, with the lengthy list of absentees including Luisa Geiselsöder and Li Yueru. Until Geiselsöder can return from her shoulder injury, Hines-Allen will have to log heavy minutes, as Yueru is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. As a result, productive nights like Thursday are a distinct possibility for the veteran forward.

Hines-Allen was initially questionable for Thursday’s game, so the status upgrade is a sign that she’s on track to play. With Luisa Geiselsöder (shoulder) out, Hines-Allen will likely be in the starting lineup if the Wings clear her for Thursday’s game.

Injuries continue to stack up for the draft lottery bound Dallas Wings. After the Wings announced that they had lost stretch center Luisa Geiselsöder for the rest of the regular season with a shoulder injury, the Wings went and signed Petty, an undrafted 6'3" forward who’s known for rebounding the basketball at a very high level. Petty signed a training camp contract with the Lynx this past spring but was waived on May 7, the week before the regular season began.

The Wings announced on Tuesday that their center Luisa Geiselsöder won’t play in the Wings’ final three games. She suffered a shoulder injury on August 27 while the Wings played against the Sun. Throughout her rookie season Geiselsöder, proved to be a intriguing WNBA talent and she proved to be a competent scoring stretch center who reads the game well. She averaged 6.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 28 games for the Wings this season. Following this announcement, the Wings were able to sign yet another player to a 7-day hardship, Ajae Petty. Petty went undrafted this past spring but the Lynx brought her into training camp in April to get a look.

Injured during an August 27 game against the Sun, Geiselsöder will miss a second consecutive contest with a right shoulder injury. Myisha Hines-Allen moved into the starting lineup for Dallas’ loss to Atlanta two days later and will likely retain that role.

Geiselsoder finished the third quarter of Wednesday’s game but was replaced by Aziaha James to begin the fourth quarter before later being ruled out. Her injury is just the latest in what has been a rough past few weeks for the Wings, who were already playing on Wednesday without Paige Bueckers (illness), Arike Ogunbowale (knee), JJ Quinerly (knee) and Li Yueru Knee). With Dallas’ season coming to an end soon, it’ll be interesting to see what the injury diagnosis is and how long it potentially keeps Geiselsoder on the sideline, if at all.

Bueckers had a performance for the ages as her 44-piece was the most points scored by a rookie in WNBA history, the most points scored by a player this season and the first player in league history to score over 40 points on over 80 percent shooting. Bueckers reached a new career high after initially setting that against the Sparks less than a week prior. The Wings rookie didn’t miss a single shot in both the first and third quarters. She scored 15 of her total 44 points in the third quarter including off of two separate and-one plays that allowed her to hit a pair of the six total free throws Bueckers was awarded on Wednesday night. The rookie guard scored from all three levels. She put pressure on the rim, hit her mid-range twos off of some screens and hit four pull-up three pointers off solid screens set by Myisha Hines-Allen and Luisa Geiselsöder.

With Arike Ogunbowale unavailable on Tuesday night due to right knee soreness, head coach Chris Koclanes decided to play a bit bigger and added forward Maddy Siegirst to the starting lineup. Tuesday’s game will be Siegrist’s fourth start this WNBA season and first since she returned from injury a week ago. With Siegrist starting, expect Myisha Hines-Allen to get substantial run coming off the bench in addition to new acquisition Dimond Miller. If Luisa Geiselsöder gets into early foul trouble guarding Aliyah Boston, Li Yueru should see some extended minutes as well.

Hines-Allen was also probable for Sunday’s loss to the Mystics, playing 27 minutes off the bench. Given the probable tag the Wings have given their reserve forward, Hines-Allen should take on a similar workload Tuesday night. Starter Luisa Geiselsöder only played 17 minutes against Washington, the fewest since logging 15 minutes in a July 27 loss to the Aces.

Despite participating in shootaround on Tuesday, Hines-Allen will not play against the Liberty. Her absence leaves Dallas down another rotation post player, meaning more will be asked of starter Luisa Geiselsöder. In recent games, the Wings have gone small, with Haley Jones starting, which has resulted in fewer minutes for reserve Li Yueru.