HARTFORD, Conn. — Hounded and harried as the stars usually are in the pro league, Paige Bueckers fought her way left to right, stepped back up from 18 feet away and as she was knocked to the floor, flipped up a prayer. For the great players, prayers of this nature are often answered. The shot went in, the whistle blew and she ended up sitting at the free throw line with her impish, triumphant expression.

Then she got up and hit the free throw to give the Dallas Wings, who had trailed by as many as 14, the lead with 1:17 to play. Later, she completed another and-one, letting out all the stops in celebration. This Thursday night in Hartford was one of those patented, “We have Paige and they don’t” nights, to recycle a phrase sometimes used when she played at UConn.

“I would totally agree with that statement,” Wings coach Jose Fernandez said. “She does things every single day, that you’re not surprised anymore. … She’s just different. She’s such a competitor, a winner, she just refuses to lose. Certain players don’t want the ball at the end, don’t want to take the big shot, She never shies away from the big moment.”

The Wings beat the Connecticut Sun, 86-83, at PeoplesBank Arena, with Bueckers and Azzi Fudd giving the majority of the 14,578, the UConn women’s basketball fans, the current team, the political, civic and academic leaders, Hall of Famer Ray Allen, what they came and suffered a sweltering night to see.

It was an electric night in Hartford, the Wings living off the power surges provided by Bueckers, who was 4 for 4 with 11 points in the fourth quarter. She took this game over, plain and simple, finishing with 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, but just as typically gave all the credit to screen-setting teammates and the coaching staff’s X’s and O’s.

“As far as how it felt,” Bueckers said, “just to be able to play in this game, play in fourth quarters, be out there with my teammates in that environment and see a lot of support, regardless who they were cheering for, they were here for women’s basketball.”

Though most UConn games are blowouts, Husky fans have their memories of Bueckers in this milieu: The Big Moment. This regular-season WNBA game was reminiscent of Bueckers’ tours-de-force against South Carolina in COVID-cleared Gampel Pavilion in 2021, against NC State in the NCAA Regional final at Bridgeport in 2022, or multiple games deep in March Madness, when she emerged with her championship in 2025.

For others, it could be considered more than just nostalgia. It was an example of all the WNBA COULD be, if it had the leadership to bring its bickering, polarizing, pushing, shoving, flopping and flagrant-fouling factions together and make entertaining basketball the agenda. The game was as physical and intense as anyone could expect, but had none of the other stuff. And it showed what can happen when WNBA stars comport themselves like professionals, carry themselves with a little grace and humility.

“You’ve got two of the most humble superstars sitting up here right now,” said the Wings’ Alanna Smith, who had Bueckers to her right, Fudd to her left. “The way they handle themselves and treat other people, it speaks to who they are as people. They don’t see themselves as better-than, higher-than, which is amazing because they have so much magnitude, especially in a place like this.”

Bueckers, the No.1 pick in the WNBA draft in 2025 and the top fan vote-getter for the All-Star Game, and Fudd, No. 1 this past April and a potential All-Star, have led this Wings’ resurgence. At 12-8, they have already won more games than all last year, with more than half the schedule remaining.

“But we’re not settling for that,” Fudd said.

In a characteristic Fudd night, she may have struggled to get open and score, but she made her impact with five assists and solid defense, finally hitting two big shots down the stretch as the Wings were closing in and the fans, of course, went wild.

“Just thank you,” Fudd said, “for the five years we both had here, (the fans) showed up every single night and it’s just an incredible experience that will never change and it’s part of the reason this is the basketball capital of the world.”

On the other side, the Sun (4-16) again played well, played hard, and played just well enough to lose. It hasn’t always been that way. Wings GM Curt Miller had both coach and GM titles with the Sun from 2016-22, part of the six-year stretch of deep playoff runs, and more regular-season wins than any team in the league. Miller and Jasmine Thomas, popular Sun point guard and now a Wings executive, were honored as franchise “legends,” part of this maddening “Sunset Season” campaign.

“It’s great to be back in the women’s basketball capital of the world,” Miller told the crowd at halftime.

This was the last of two games the Sun scheduled in Hartford this season, and they drew a total of 25,000-plus. Since most WNBA teams have at least one notable former Husky — Bueckers, Breanna Stewart and Gabby Williams are all starting the All-Star Game — it can be surmised that if the efforts to keep the team from moving from Mohegan Sun to Hartford had succeeded, and prevented the franchise from relocating to Houston after this season, summer nights like this one could have become commonplace here.

This, we will never know. Bueckers called before and after the game for a future Wings exhibition game to be played at Gampel.

“That would be really cool, so I’m kind of speaking that into existence,” she said.

There would be a lot of moving parts to get there, though, and it wouldn’t be the same. A preseason tune-up game would be like a random drop-in for coffee and cake. On Thursday, at least, Hartford was treated to the Paige Bueckers experience, and vice versa. Here we saw the WNBA as it should be, and a future in Connecticut, where women’s basketball matters most, that in all likelihood we will never get to realize.

“How grateful I am for (Connecticut fans), the support throughout my entire five years, but I know it’s going to be continued for the rest of my life,” Bueckers said. “It’s like a family, this whole entire state, backing us, supporting us, loving women’s basketball and everything about it. We feel their support throughout the world, too. We’re forever grateful for everything, we love it here.”

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