Dallas Wings had high expectations for 2024, but injuries have them at bottom of WNBA standings

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Wings were coming off their best season since moving to Texas eight years ago, with their most wins since the franchise's last WNBA title in 2008 when they were in Detroit.

Six of the top seven scorers were returning, including All-Star players Satou Sabally and Arike Ogunbowale and standout defender Natasha Howard. There was certainly every reason to believe that this season could be even better for Dallas.

Instead, the injury-plagued Wings (4-15) are tied with Washington for the worst record in the 12-team league. Sabally injured her shoulder in an Olympic qualifier in February and hasn't yet played for them this season, Howard missed 12 games with a broken foot and flourishing second-year guard Maddy Siegrist broke her left index finger two weeks ago

“Search for a different word to use, but there isn't really a better one than disappointing,” Wings president and CEO Greg Bibb said. “Last year was our best year, another step in our build. Top-four finish, semifinalist, basically having the core of the team back coming into this year. We had high expectations for what 2024 could be. By the way, I'll say 2024 is not over. There's still a lot of games to play."

Just short of the halfway point of the regular season, Dallas has lost 13 of its past 14 games. The Wings snapped on 11-game losing streak with a 94-88 win at home last Thursday over Commissioner's Cup champ Minnesota before losing twice in three nights at Seattle, including 95-71 on Monday.

“It's definitely tough. You can't control what happens with injuries,” said Ogunbowale, who has had at least 20 points in 16 of her 18 games this season. “We just have to keep fighting through, and we have what it takes to be a good team. .... We're just going to keep adding people back and keep getting better.”

There are six games remaining over the next two weeks before the month-long Olympic break, then 15 games after that to wrap up the regular season.

"We’re starting to get, hopefully, people back after the break. I never loved seeing an Olympic break, but it’s really going to be beneficial for our team,” second-year Wings coach Latricia Trammell said. “It's been challenging, of course. But we're trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Sabally is expected to play for her home country when the German women's team makes its Olympics debut in Paris at the end of this month. The Wings hope to have her back after that, and Siegrist could also be close to a return by then.

In the meantime, Bibb said the team needs to stay within striking distance of a playoff berth — eight of the league's 12 teams make the postseason. He likes his team's chances of making another run if everyone is healthy.

“We have time to still collect some wins to still be in that run for the playoffs," Howard said. “When the break comes, that’s when everybody can actually recharge their battery and relax, then come back and be ready to rock and roll for the second half of the season. That’ll be good that we’re going to have Maddy and Satou back.”

Dallas' 22 wins last season were the most for the franchise since a 22-12 record in 2008, when the Shock won their third WNBA championship in a six-season span, all with coach Bill Laimbeer. The Wings won both games in their first-round playoff series against Atlanta last year before a three-game sweep in the WNBA semifinals by Las Vegas, which went on to win its second consecutive title.

The franchise's first 12 seasons were in Detroit, before the team moved to Tulsa in 2010 and then to North Texas in 2016. The Wings have since played their home games on the UT-Arlington campus, which is about halfway between downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth. They are set to move in 2026 to their namesake city — into a renovated arena that is part of the Dallas convention center.

“The move to Dallas will be transformative for us. We’re super excited about that,” Bibb said. “But between now and then, we hope to win a lot of basketball games right here at College Park Center.”

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale looks down during a stoppage as her team trails the Seattle Storm during the first half of a WNBA basketball game, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Dallas Wings forward Natasha Howard looks down after the ball went out of bounds against the Seattle Storm during the second half of a WNBA basketball game, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Seattle. The Storm won 95-71. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

FILE - Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale moves upcourt against the Indiana Fever during the second half of an WNBA basketball game in Arlington, Texas, May 3, 2024. The Wings were coming off their most successful season in Texas, with All-Star starters Satou Sabally and Ogunbowale among the core back from a team that made the WNBA semifinals. Sabally got hurt even before the season, the first of numerous injuries that have clipped the Wings, who are now just trying to hold on until the Olympic break. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth, File)

FILE - Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale, left, drives against Chicago Sky guard Marina Mabrey (4) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game May 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. The Wings were coming off their most successful season in Texas, with All-Star starters Satou Sabally and Ogunbowale among the core back from a team that made the WNBA semifinals. Sabally got hurt even before the season, the first of numerous injuries that have clipped the Wings, who are now just trying to hold on until the Olympic break. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade, File)

FILE - Dallas Wings forward Satou Sabally brings the ball upcourt during the team's WNBA basketball game against the Phoenix Mercury, June 7, 2023, in Arlington, Texas. The Wings were coming off their most successful season in Texas, with All-Star starters Sabally and Arike Ogunbowale among the core back from a team that made the WNBA semifinals. Sabally got hurt even before the season, the first of numerous injuries that have clipped the Wings, who are now just trying to hold on until the Olympic break. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

FILE - Dallas Wings' Satou Sabally, center, watches play against the Minnesota Lynx in a WNBA basketball game in Arlington, Texas, June 27, 2024. The Wings were coming off their most successful season in Texas, with All-Star starters Sabally and Arike Ogunbowale among the core back from a team that made the WNBA semifinals. Sabally got hurt even before the season, the first of numerous injuries that have clipped the Wings, who are now just trying to hold on until the Olympic break. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

FILE - Dallas Wings' Arike Ogunbowale instructs teammates during a WNBA basketball game against the Minnesota Lynx in Arlington, Texas, June 27, 2024. The Wings were coming off their most successful season in Texas, with All-Star starters Satou Sabally and Ogunbowale among the core back from a team that made the WNBA semifinals. Sabally got hurt even before the season, the first of numerous injuries that have clipped the Wings, who are now just trying to hold on until the Olympic break. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

TULUM, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl ripped off roofs in Jamaica, jumbled fishing boats in Barbados and damaged or destroyed 95% of homes on a pair of islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines before rumbling past the Cayman Islands early Thursday and taking aim at Mexico's Caribbean coast after leaving at least seven people dead in its wake.

What had been the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, weakened to a Category 3 by early Thursday but remained a major hurricane.

“Weakening is forecast during the next day or two, though Beryl is forecast to remain a hurricane until it makes landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula,” the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its 8 a.m. update.

Mexico's popular Caribbean coast prepared shelters, evacuated some small outlying coastal communities and even moved sea turtle eggs off beaches threatened by storm surge, but in nightlife hotspots like Playa del Carmen and Tulum tourists still took one more night on the town.

In Playa del Carmen, most businesses were closed on Thursday and some were boarding up windows as tourists were jogging and some locals walked their dogs under sunny skies. In Tulum, Mexico's Navy patrolled the streets telling tourists in Spanish and English to prepare for the storm's arrival. Everything was scheduled to shut down by midday.

Early on Thursday morning, the storm’s center was about 95 miles (150 kilometers) west-southwest of Grand Cayman island and 330 miles (530 kilometers) east-southeast of Tulum. It had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 18 mph (about 30 kph).

The premier of the Cayman Islands, Juliana O’Connor, thanked residents and visitors Thursday for contributing to the “collective calm” ahead of Beryl by following storm protocols.

“We have done everything possible that we could have done to face the various challenges ahead of us,” she said in a press briefing.

The head of Mexico’s civil defense agency, Laura Velázquez, said Thursday that Beryl is expected to be a Category 1 hurricane when it hits a relatively unpopulated stretch of Mexico’s Caribbean coast south of Tulum early Friday.

But once Beryl re-emerges into the Gulf of Mexico a day later, she said it is again expected to build to hurricane strength and could hit right around the Mexico-U.S. border, at Matamoros. That area was already soaked in June by Tropical Storm Alberto.

Velázquez said temporary storm shelters were being set up at schools and hotels in case they are needed. She efforts to evacuate a few highly exposed villages — like Punta Allen, which sits on a narrow spit of land south of Tulum — had been only partially successful.

The storm had already shown its destructive potential across a long swath of the southeastern Caribbean.

Beryl's eye wall brushed by Jamaica's southern coast Wednesday afternoon knocking out power and ripping roofs off homes. Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Jamaica had not seen the “worst of what could possibly happen.”

“We can do as much as we can do, as humanly possible, and we leave the rest in the hands of God,” Holness said.

Several roadways in Jamaica’s interior settlements were impacted by fallen trees and utility poles, while some communities in the northern section were without electricity, according to the government’s Information Service.

The worst perhaps came earlier in Beryl's trajectory when it smacked two small islands of the Lesser Antilles.

Michelle Forbes, the St. Vincent and Grenadines director of the National Emergency Management Organization, said that about 95% of homes in Mayreau and Union Island have been damaged by Hurricane Beryl.

Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. Three other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where four people were missing, officials said.

One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, the environment minister, told The Associated Press.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has promised to rebuild the archipelago.

In Cancun on Wednesday afternoon, Donna McNaughton, a 43-year-old cardiac physiologist from Scotland, was taking the approaching storm in stride.

Her flight home wasn't leaving until Monday, so she planned to follow her hotel's advice to wait it out.

“We’re not too scared of. It’ll die down,” she said. “And we’re used to wind and rain in Scotland anyway.”

Associated Press journalists John Myers Jr. and Renloy Trail in Kingston, Jamaica, Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico City, Coral Murphy Marcos in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Lucanus Ollivierre in Kingstown, St. Vincent and Grenadines contributed to this report.

Workers chops a tree uprooted by Hurricane Beryl in St. James, Barbados, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Members of the Red Cross transport a Union Island evacuee on a stretcher as she arrives in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. The island, in the Grenadines archipelago, was hit by Hurricane Beryl. (AP Photo/Lucanus Ollivierre)

Evacuees from Union Island arrive in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. The island, in the Grenadines archipelago, was hit by Hurricane Beryl. (AP Photo/Lucanus Ollivierre).

Members of the Red Cross transport a Union Island evacuee on a stretcher as she arrives in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. The island, in the Grenadines archipelago, was hit by Hurricane Beryl. (AP Photo/Lucanus Ollivierre)

Evacuees from Union Island arrive in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. The island, in the Grenadines archipelago, was hit by Hurricane Beryl. (AP Photo/Lucanus Ollivierre)

This GOES-East GeoColor satellite image taken at 1:20 p.m. EDT, and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Beryl moving towards Jamaica, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (NOAA via AP)

A man fishes in the sea ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Rescuers recover the body of a policeman who state authorities said died in a car accident while checking damage caused by heavy rain in Alto Lucero, Veracruz, Mexico, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Rescuers recover the body of a policeman who state authorities said died in a car accident while checking damage caused by heavy rain in Alto Lucero, Veracruz, Mexico, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Tourists lounge on the beach ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

State employees evacuate turtle eggs from the beach to protect them from the incoming Hurricane Beryl, in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

State employees evacuate turtle eggs from the beach to protect them from the incoming Hurricane Beryl, in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A Mexican soldier stands guard on a beach ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival, in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Tourists swim in the ocean ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Furniture store employees board up windows for protection ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Workers remove an advertisement from a billboard for protection ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Workers remove an advertisement from a billboard for protection ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

People lounge on the beach as the sun sets ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

This image provided by NASA shows Hurricane Beryl from the International Space Station on Sunday, July 1, 2024. Beryl was roaring toward Jamaica on Wednesday, July 3, with islanders scrambling to make preparations after the powerful Category 4 storm earlier killed at least six people and caused significant damage in the southeast Caribbean. (NASA via AP)

Furniture store employees board up windows for protection ahead of Hurricane Beryl's expected arrival, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)