ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Odyssey Sims scored 23 points in front of a hometown crowd, Skylar Diggins made her season debut coming off knee surgery and the Dallas Wings won their inaugural home game, beating the San Antonio Stars 82-77 on Saturday night.
Sims, who starred at a Dallas-area high school and 100 miles south at Baylor, scored 10 first-quarter points after welcoming an announced sellout crowd with a brief pre-game speech at the 7,275-seat College Park Center at the University of Texas at Arlington, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth.
The Wings (3-1) opened the season with three road games before playing the first women's professional game in the Dallas area in more than 30 years.
Diggins came off the bench late in the first quarter to a roar almost as big as those for each of Sims' two 3-pointers in the first 5 minutes. Diggins scored one point in 12 minutes in her first game since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee last June 28, when the franchise was still in Tulsa.
Kayla McBride scored 29 points, one shy of her career high, to lead the Stars (0-3).
WNBA President Lisa Borders attended the Dallas debut, addressing the crowd before the game moments after the team honored coach Leta Andrews of nearby Granbury. Andrews retired two years ago as the nation's winningest high school coach - boys or girls - with 1,416 victories.
The inaugural crowd was a mix of young and old, including several youth basketball teams wearing their team colors. There were even a few Tulsa Shock T-shirts in the crowd. The franchise spent five years in Oklahoma after originating in Detroit in 1998, the second year of the WNBA.
There were pockets of empty seats, but plenty of enthusiasm from the neon green towel-waving fans, particularly with the Stars trying to rally late.
San Antonio had three chances to tie while trailing 80-77 in the final minute but missed each time. That included an open 3-pointer from the right wing by Frida Eldebrink with 5 seconds left. She also missed from long range with 44 seconds remaining.
Sims had a pair of clinching free throws with 3 seconds to go and finished 11 of 12 from the line.
Karima Christmas scored 14 points for Dallas, and Aerial Powers had 10 of her 12 points in the second quarter. Plenette Pierson, a Houston native and by far the most experienced Wings player in her 14th season, scored 11.
Courtney Paris had eight points and 15 rebounds for Dallas.
Kayla Alexander and Sydney Colson scored 11 apiece for San Antonio.
