ARLINGTON — Rookie standout Paige Bueckers — who practiced with the Dallas Wings in a non-contact capacity on Thursday — should soon make her return to the court after concussion protocol knocked her out of the team’s last three games.

As Bueckers watched from the sidelines, the Wings (1–8) dropped their fourth straight contest in a 93-79 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks (3–6) on Friday at College Park Center and surely missed her presence.

“They exposed us more than anyone has for not having a point guard these past three games,” Wings coach Chris Koclanes said. “That was very evident tonight.”

Bueckers’ return will be more than welcome (she averaged 14.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists through six games before injury). But as she re-enters the fold, the Wings will lose two other key pieces — Teaira McCowan and Luisa Geiselsöder — to FIBA Women’s Eurobasket from June 18-29.

McCowan, a 6-7 center, departs to play for Turkey on June 7 and Geiselsöder, a 6-4 center, reports June 14 to play for Germany. Their Wings contracts will be suspended while they compete in Europe and the two are expected to rejoin the team ahead of the July 3 home game against the Phoenix Mercury.

Here’s why this matters.

Even with McCowan (7 points, 2 rebounds) and Geiselsöder (11 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists) on the court for a combined 49 minutes, the Wings struggled to hang with a physical Sparks team that also had a huge size advantage. Azura Stevens, the Sparks’ 6-6 center, recorded a game-high 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting and also recorded six rebounds. Dearica Hamby, a 6-3 forward, was 8-of-12 from the floor and dropped 20 points.

And 6-4 forward Cameron Brink, who has been recovering from an ACL injury, wasn’t even playing (though she, like Bueckers, watched from the sidelines).

Apart from McCowan, Geiselsoder and NaLyssa Smith, who played just seven minutes on Friday, most of the Wings players hover around 6-0. Five players on the team are under that mark.

The Wings lack of size has been an issue all season, but it was glaring on Friday from the opening tip onward. Dallas struggled to find space, and early in the first quarter had already given up two turnovers that the Sparks had converted into five points.

On the night, the Wings finished with 15 turnovers, as the Sparks made five blocks and nine steals. They pretty much silenced Arike Ogunbowale, who has struggled by her standards this season. She finished with eight points and shot 4-of-10 from the floor.

While DiJonai Carrington hustled to a team-high 16 points, she also found herself frustrated by the Sparks’s swarming defense and was responsible for seven of the Wings’ turnovers.

“They disrupted us a ton and it was really tough to get organization out there,” Koclanes said.

Geiselsöder, who recently won a French league title, reported to the Wings shortly after the season began. She has shown a lot of promise early and has already bought into the team.

“I mean, the score today doesn’t really show it and today was a little low,” Geiselsöder said. “But we can see that we’re getting better and better.”

The Wings look to make forward progress as the season continues on. But Geiselsöder and McCowan are soon headed overseas and Dallas’ next few opponents aren’t getting any smaller.

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Find more Wings coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

A violent crash involving a Dallas police cruiser has injured two officers and shut down a major roadway in Northwest Dallas.

According to police at the scene, officers were in the area near 3100 West Northwest Highway in Dallas because of a carjacking at another location.

Police said the suspect ended up hitting a squad car head-on as officers arrived.

Two officers were injured in the collision, police said. Both were transported to a local hospital and are expected to be okay.

According to police, a suspect was killed during the incident, but details surrounding the circumstances of the death have not been released at this time.

West Northwest Highway is shut down in both directions at Webb Chapel Road as a result of the crash. Traffic is unable to pass through in either direction.

As of 6:45 a.m., both cars are on scene and have not been towed. Officers expect this area to be shut down and blocked to traffic for at least the next two hours as they conduct their forensic investigation.

Check back and refresh this page for the latest update. As developments unfold, elements of this story may change.