Satou Sabally reached the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs for the first time with the Dallas Wings. Her sister Nyara also progressed with the New York Liberty.
In the 101:74 win against the Atlanta Dream, German national basketball player Satou Sabally from Berlin scored 13 points and also had six assists and four rebounds on Tuesday evening (September 19th, 2023). Next up is against the number one seeded team, the Las Vegas Aces.
In the best-of-five series, three wins are necessary to advance to the final series. The first game is on September 24th. In the first round, two wins were enough for the Wings.
Since moving to Dallas in 2016, the team had never advanced past the first round of the playoffs. Sabally is playing her third season for the Wings and is one of the most important players there.
Nowitzki in the front row
Dirk Nowitzki sat in the front row at the game in his adopted home of Dallas and saw that the Wings gave their opponents no chance. Seven Wings players scored in double figures, something that had never happened before in a WNBA playoff game.
“It’s difficult to defend against all of us. We shared the ball well, you can see that on the scoreboard,” Sabally said after the win. She set a playoff record for the Wings with 32 points in the opening game against Atlanta. The 25-year-old averaged 18.6 points in the regular season and had her first 40-point game at the Indiana Fever (110:100) at the beginning of the month.
Family duel possible in the final
If Dallas makes it to the finals, there could be a family duel. The New York Liberty also made it into the semi-finals and are a possible opponent for the title.
Sabally’s sister Nyara is under contract in New York. In her first WNBA year, she is only a supplementary player and was not used in the 90:85 win against the Washington Mystics.