Paige Bueckers scores 22 points, all in 2nd half, as Wings hand Tempo 10th straight loss, 94-88

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Paige Bueckers scored all 22 of her points in the second half, and the Dallas Wings beat Toronto 94-88 on Wednesday, handing the expansion Tempo their 10th consecutive loss.

Bueckers went 4 of 4 from the field and from the free-throw line in a 13-point third quarter after missing all seven of her shots in the first half. The Wings ended a three-game skid, their longest of the season.

Arike Ogunbowale scored 21 with season highs in free throws and attempts, going 13 of 14, and Alanna Smith had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Awak Kuier scored 14 points.

Dallas played without All-Star Jessica Shepard and rookie No. 1 overall draft pick Azzi Fudd. Shepard injured an ankle in the previous game against Minnesota, and Fudd has missed three with a knee injury.

Marina Mabrey scored 14 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter, when the Tempo got within three after trailing by 18 late in the third.

Bueckers had eight assists and three steals, including one that led to a breakaway layup for a 10-point lead with 3:03 remaining, just after Ogunbowale had converted a three-point play.

The Tempo trimmed the deficit to four points in the final minute, but Bueckers hit a jumper to get the lead back to six before Isabelle Harrison was called for a charge.

Bueckers was 7 of 11 from the field after the break and made all seven of her free throws in the second half.

Laura Juskaite scored 18 points and Kia Nurse added 16 for Toronto, which was missing starters Brittney Sykes and Julie Allemand.

Tempo: Host Indiana on Tuesday night.

Wings: At Indiana on Friday night.

See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers drives to the basket as Toronto Tempo's Kiki Rice, right, defends in the first half of a WNBA basketball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Toronto Tempo guard Marina Mabrey reacts after taking a shot in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale (24) shoots a three-pointer in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers instructs teammates in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A small law firm with ties to the Trump administration declined a $150 million contract to represent migrant children who traveled alone to the U.S., authorities said Wednesday, while another group whose former chief executive was dogged by allegations of misconduct was awarded work worth up to $244 million to advocate for them.

The rapid-fire developments came amid long-term questions about who will represent children in court amid President Donald Trump's push for mass deportations.

The administration last week announced plans to award the contract to the Burke Law Group, a Houston-based firm with little experience in immigration. The contract offer came after the administration let a key contract expire with nearly 100 providers through Acacia Center for Justice.

Unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody are being temporarily represented by another group, but it is unclear how things will shake out after its contract expires in December. A statement from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees the contracts, offered no insight into why Burke declined the offer.

“Burke Law Group has declined to apply and has not been awarded any grant," the agency, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an emailed statement in response to a query about the contract.

Burke Law Group published a short statement on social media Tuesday night saying it had considered applying for a “small portion” of the contract. It did not explain why it decided against it.

Burke Law Group's founder, Marcella Burke, served in President Donald Trump’s first administration as a lawyer with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior.

Others on its roster include Justin Shubow, a supporter of Trump’s efforts to require federal buildings to adhere to classical and traditional architectural styles, and a former Trump appointee to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. Prominent conservative legal scholar Ilya Shapiro is listed as senior counsel.

The administration awarded another contract worth up to $244 million to Our Rescue, an anti-child-trafficking organization based in Sandy, Utah. The group, previously called Operation Underground Railroad, was made famous by the 2023 movie “Sound of Freedom.”

Founder Tim Ballard resigned in 2023 amid allegations of misconduct. Women accused him in lawsuits of exploiting his position at Operation Underground Railroad and their desire to help combat child trafficking to abuse them.

Derek Benner, Our Rescue's current CEO, welcomed the new assignment.

“These are among the most vulnerable children in the world, and they deserve nothing less than the full weight of our experience,” said Benner, a former senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Migrant children who are detained after entering the U.S. without their parents are usually entrusted to federal government care. Congress created various legal protections for them, including the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which requires the government to provide legal representation for children put into deportation proceedings.

About 1,800 children were living in shelters and roughly 22,000 facing deportation were living with outside sponsors such as family members, according to the legal service providers whose contract expired.

The Burke Law Group, with fewer than 30 lawyers and only two with relevant immigration experience listed on its website, was one of two groups tapped by the government to fill in the gap.

A temporary contract for $20 million was awarded through the end of the year to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a legal aid group whose previous work with the government involved helping resettle Afrikaners.

Attorneys with USCRI started showing up in immigration court last week, unannounced, claiming to represent children they had not yet met and sparking confusion among judges and lawyers from the expired contract still providing representation.

Some legal aid providers whose contracts expired sued the administration after they went without payment since last year. On Aug. 6, a California federal judge ordered the federal government to pay the providers.

“These half-baked plans are not sufficient to comply with this court’s order,” Caelin Moriarity Miltko, an attorney representing the providers, told the judge last week, referring to the interim contracts the government is trying to set up.

“Plaintiffs have ethical obligations to the children they represent today, to continue providing that representation to the best of their abilities, and that representation cannot transfer instantaneously to a new group simply because defendants have changed the contract,” Miltko said.

Bilal Askaryar, director of communications at Acacia Center for Justice, the organization that handled the expired contract with the government, confirmed on Wednesday that the groups started to receive payments covering six out of nine months owed, with the rest in progress.

People arrive for immigration court hearings in New York, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)