NEW YORK (AP) — Azzi Fudd wanted to slow her game down and let it come to her.
That certainly worked for the No. 1 pick in last month’s draft as she scored 17 of her season-best 24 points in the third quarter to lift the Dallas Wings to a 91-76 win over the New York Liberty on Sunday.
“My goal was to just play a little bit slower,” Fudd said. “I felt like I was rushing a little bit every time I caught the ball, not reading. … I’m just putting the ball down and going too fast. So my goal was just to slow down.”
The 17 points was tied for the second-most by a rookie in a quarter, trailing only the 20 that Shoni Schimmel had when she played for Phoenix.
“Really proud of her, stayed the course,” Dallas coach Jose Fernandez said. “She showed on the national stage, bright lights, tough place to play on national TV. Now everyone knows why we took her No. 1.”
Fudd always enjoyed playing at Barclays Center when she was in college at UConn, so it was no surprise that she had the best game of her young pro career there.
She hit five 3-pointers in the period, including banking in her last one, as the Liberty had no answer for the Wings guard. Her six 3-pointers in the game broke the franchise record held by a few players.
Fudd had four points in the first half and then started the third quarter. She missed her first 3, but then couldn’t miss, making her next five. She banked in her last. Fudd capped her scoring burst with a steal off Breanna Stewart and then a layup to finish off her scoring for the period. She finished with 17 points in the period and so did New York.
The Liberty could never recover.
Fudd scored 27 points for UConn last December when the Huskies routed Iowa at the Women’s Champions Classic at Barclays Center. Just like that game, there was a huge vocal fan base supporting her.
“The atmosphere is incredible from when I was here with UConn and even more so tonight,” Fudd said. “So having that experience with the crowd, it gets super loud. … It’s definitely a really fun crowd.”
Fudd also did a good job guarding Liberty point guard Sabrina Ionescu at times. Ionescu, who was making her season debut after missing the first five games with a foot injury, was scoreless in the second half.
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