Twelve assists on the last night of the regular season is a floor-general number first and a triple-double footnote second. Jessica Shepard posted both.
The Associated Press reported that Shepard finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists as the Dallas Wings beat the Seattle Storm 103-91 on Wednesday in Seattle. The assist total was the engine under a night that also produced Paige Bueckers' 25 points and seven assists and Arike Ogunbowale's 23 points and six assists.
Shepard's full line was her WNBA-leading sixth triple-double of the season.
Creating for a Wings attack that scored 103
Dallas did not need Shepard to hunt shots alone. It needed her to keep Bueckers and Ogunbowale in rhythm while the Wings built a 90-71 lead and then survived Seattle's late push. Twelve assists against a Storm team that still generated 14 assists from Natisha Hiedeman showed Shepard winning the creation battle even when Seattle's offense woke up in the fourth.
Seattle cut the deficit to 94-88 with a 17-4 run after trailing by 19. Awak Kuier and Bueckers answered with threes on the next two possessions. Shepard's assist column was already deep by then; the late threes protected a win her distribution had helped construct across the first three-plus quarters.
Dominique Malonga led the Storm (8-36) with 29 points and eight rebounds. Awa Fam scored a season-high 22 and Flau'jae Johnson added 21. Seattle could score. It could not match Shepard's all-around control of the middle of the floor.
Assist season, seed locked, Storm swept
Dallas finished 27-16 after a 10-win season in 2025. The AP described the 17-win jump as a WNBA record for the best single-season turnaround. The Wings won seven of their last eight, with Monday's loss after a 14-point lead the only recent blemish.
