Ogunbowale scores WNBA playoff-record 45 as Wings win in OT to force deciding game with Valkyries

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale scored a WNBA playoff-record 45 points, including a tying 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation, and the Dallas Wings beat the Golden State Valkyries 108-100 in an overtime thriller Wednesday night, forcing a deciding Game 3 in their first-round series. Ogunbowale opened the extra period by banking in a 3, then hit another one to put Dallas ahead for good at 103-100 with 1:46 remaining. She easily topped her previous playoff best of 24 points. Click to Gallery More Images Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton (22) shoots as Dallas Wings' Paige Bueckers, right, defends in the first half of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Alysha Clark (7) celebrates a 3-point basket in the first half as the Golden State Valkyries play the Dallas Wings in Game 2 of the WNBA playoffs first round in Arlington, Texas, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP) Dallas Wings' Arike Ogunbowale celebrates a basket in the second half of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game against the Golden State Valkyries Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Dallas Wings' Arike Ogunbowale (24) shoots in the second half of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game against the Golden State Valkyries Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Dallas Wings' Jessica Shepard (32), Paige Bueckers (5) and Arike Ogunbowale (24) celebrate after Ogunbowale sunk a three-pointer in overtime of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game against the Golden State Valkyries Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) The four-time All-Star's off-balance corner 3 for a 93-93 tie with 4.1 seconds left in Game 2 was followed by Gabby Williams getting called for an offensive foul on the inbound play after a Golden State timeout. That call was reversed on replay, so instead of Aziaha James having a chance to give Dallas the lead at the free-throw line, there was a jump ball at center court with 3.0 seconds to go. After a scramble for the loose ball, Golden State's desperation shot was way off target, and after the buzzer. The deciding game will be Friday night in San Francisco, where the Valkyries won the series opener by 24 points. Golden State is looking to advance in the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's second season. The late drama overshadowed an off night for Wings star Paige Bueckers, who is making her postseason debut. The 2025 No. 1 overall pick and Rookie of the Year scored 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting. Williams scored a career-high 36 points, regular season or playoffs, but missed all six of her shots in the final 1:31 of overtime to finish 12 of 23 from the field. Ogunbowale scored 22 points in the fourth quarter and overtime — 11 in each. She passed her previous playoff high of 24 points with a 3 midway though the fourth, and her overall best of 41 with the 3 that put Dallas up for good. Dallas' Alysha Clark tied her playoff career high with 21 points, and Aziaha James added 13. Kaila Charles scored 14 points for the Valkyries, and Kayla Thornton had 13. Cecilia Zandalasini was limited to three shots and five points after leading Golden State with 22 in the series opener. With the scored tied at 98 in the extra period, Ogunbowale and Tiffany Hayes had to be separated after making contact. Both were called for flagrant fouls, and each made a pair of free throws with 2:26 remaining. The Valkyries didn't score again, shooting 2 of 12 in overtime. See AP’s full WNBA coverage here Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton (22) shoots as Dallas Wings' Paige Bueckers, right, defends in the first half of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Alysha Clark (7) celebrates a 3-point basket in the first half as the Golden State Valkyries play the Dallas Wings in Game 2 of the WNBA playoffs first round in Arlington, Texas, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP) Dallas Wings' Arike Ogunbowale celebrates a basket in the second half of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game against the Golden State Valkyries Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Dallas Wings' Arike Ogunbowale (24) shoots in the second half of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game against the Golden State Valkyries Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Dallas Wings' Jessica Shepard (32), Paige Bueckers (5) and Arike Ogunbowale (24) celebrate after Ogunbowale sunk a three-pointer in overtime of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game against the Golden State Valkyries Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) One pilot stabbed another and attempted to crash a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel. Passengers, many of them Israelis, feared for their lives as the FlyDubai aircraft lost half its altitude in about a minute. As Israel scrambled fighter jets out of concern for a possible hijacking, a passenger and crew member burst into the cockpit to subdue the attacker, enabling other crew members to gain control of the aircraft, which landed safely in Saudi Arabia. It was not clear what motivated Wednesday's attack. The terrifying flight occurred just days before the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that launched the war in Gaza. It has rekindled anxieties about airline security and focused attention on an unsettling question: Are pilots a significant threat to the flying public's safety? Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about what happened on FlyDubai flight FZ1073: The distress call came at 8:44 a.m. local time, about two and a half hours after the flight with about 170 passengers left Dubai and headed to Tel Aviv. The captain and first officer had been fighting in the cockpit after one stabbed the other and tried to crash the aircraft, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The aircraft swiftly lost altitude — dropping from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (around 10,000 meters to 5,100 meters) in the span of about a minute. It then circled close to the Jordanian border before landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, about an hour later. A person who heard the flight’s communications with air traffic control described the plane being turned away by Saudi Arabia and Jordan before eventually landing in Tabuk, while passengers screamed in the background. The person who heard the communications spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Aviation experts said they were surprised that the plane did not crash after a descent so extreme that most of the rudder was ripped off the tail. Both pilots suffered injuries that required hospital treatment, according to a statement from Tabuk's Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport. Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia had arrested one of the pilots. A plane carrying passengers from the flight landed Wednesday evening in Israel. A passenger and a crew member managed to enter the cockpit, enabling other crew members to fly the plane to a safe landing, according to Netanyahu, who cited a passenger he had spoken to. The cockpit door on all aircraft is locked during flight for security reasons — a measure that became the industry standard after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers broke into the cockpits of four domestic flights in the United States. Netanyahu said on X that the pilot who had been stabbed opened the cockpit door, which "enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic midair disaster.” One question surrounding this incident is how anyone on the aircraft — especially a pilot — was able to get a knife onboard. It's unclear how big the knife was that was used in the attack or if it was a knife. In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity that aired Wednesday night, Netanyahu said the attacker might have hit the captain with an axe. Airlines are generally required to carry crash axes in the cockpit for use in an emergency to break open a window to escape or break open a panel to access a fire. Pilots undergo rigorous screening, including passing through metal detectors, at checkpoints at all airports. It's also standard for airlines to vet their pilots' background for criminal and employment history, their physical and mental health, as well as having them undergo intelligence and security screening. Israel has some of the most stringent airline security measures worldwide. Passengers on Israel-bound flights regularly are taken aside for questioning and baggage searches after passing through normal airport security. It's unclear whether the pilots of the FlyDubai flight had been screened as vigorously. There have been extremely rare occasions when airline security protocols fail. In 2015, the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately set the plane on a collision course with a mountainside, killing all 150 people aboard. On Oct. 31, 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990 went down off the Massachusetts island of Nantucket killing 217 aboard, and investigators at the time said the evidence pointed to it being intentionally crashed into the ocean by its co-pilot after a struggle in the cockpit. In its final report adopted in 2002, the National Transportation Safety Board said the co-pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder saying “I rely on God” as the plane was going down, while the captain repeatedly urged him to “pull up with me.” The evidence led the NTSB to conclude that the crash was not the result of a mechanical failure but was “the result of pilot inputs, including opposing pilot inputs where the relief first officer was commanding nose-down and the captain was commanding nose-up movement.” David Rising contributed from Bangkok, Thailand. Passengers embark on a FlyDubai aircraft at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Holding balloons people wait for the arrival of passengers at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) A FlyDubai aircraft carrying Israelis who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)