UNCASVILLE, Conn. — There was a moment Tuesday night when “muscle memory” transcended the colors on the uniforms. Paige Bueckers was at the free throw line, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa instinctively stuck out her hand.

“Force of habit, I guess,” Bueckers said, “… that’s my sister.”

That Bueckers was wearing the green of the Dallas Wings and ONO the blazing Connecticut Sun home jerseys was obscured for that moment, and it was understandable. Paige prevailed, getting her first victory as a pro, and in doing so she looked very much like the player Connecticut got to know at UConn, teammates like Nelson-Ododa and fans alike.

Her stat line in the Wings’ 109-87 victory at Mohegan Sun Arena told the story — 21 points, seven assists, five rebounds, three steals a block, a lot of points, a little of everything else, all of it with efficiency, 8 for 10 from the floor. Giving what the game asked, taking what the game offered, it was signature Bueckers, vintage Bueckers, pure Paige doing what Geno Auriemma always called “Paige things.”

The Wings (1-4) are at last in the win column and could soon become a thing in Dallas, because, you know how this goes: they have Paige Bueckers, and others don’t.

“It’s her intentionality with building and establishing relationships with everyone on the team,” said coach Chris Koclanes, like Bueckers a rookie on the job, “and wanting to be a leader as a rookie. I’ve just been really impressed by her intentionality and knowing she can make a difference where she is right now, in her own way.”

Six weeks ago, Bueckers was celebrating the national championship at UConn and several of her former teammates were in the building Tuesday. Kaitlyn Chen, Jana El Alfy, Ice Brady, Caroline Ducharme, for her first game back in Connecticut since going to Dallas with the No.1 pick in the draft. “I love them to pieces,” Bueckers said.

The rebuilding Wings lost their first four games, as did the Sun. One of them had to win Tuesday night (it’s a rule), and Dallas was the one separating itself from the bottom of the league, looking like a team that will be rising. Bueckers couldn’t remember if she’d ever lost four in a row before. “CYO maybe?,” her new teammate, Maddy Siegrist asked.

Bueckers, characteristically, chose to stay in the moment, glancing down at the scoresheet to find the piece of the night she will take with her.

“I think what I’ll remember most is 26 assists on 37 shots,” she said. “How we worked together as a team and how much we looked like a team.”

Those fixated on individual numbers, those who feel some need to qualify or classify championships, probably won’t get it. Bueckers just knows how to play winning basketball. She did it throughout her career at UConn, and took the Huskies to the finish line when she was healthy, and the team around her was intact.

She played winning basketball Tuesday night, and the Wings locked in behind her.

“It’s definitely better playing with her than against her,” said Siegrist, who starred at Villanova. “She’s such a good teammate, not only a great basketball player, but she really makes her teammates around her better.”

This is the UConn way, of course. Watching Tina Charles, 36, go 9 for 14, good for 26 points for the Sun, Bria Hartley scoring 12 in 19 minutes off he bench and Nelson-Ododa, on a quiet night for her, scoring six, the mind wandered a bit.

“I know Tina personally from UConn, got to know her a little bit,” Bueckers said, “and I know how she loves the game and wants to continue to play it as long as she can. Her shot is unblockable, every time it goes up, you think it’s going in. That’s who she is.”

So what if all the UConn alum in The W were on one team? Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Charles, Bueckers, Gabby Williams, Aaliyah Edwards, Stef Dolson, Hartley, Azura Stevens, Kia Nurse, Kiah Stokes, Katie Lou Samuelson, how many games would such a team win in a 40-game season? Imponderable.

On this night, Bueckers was on one side and she prevailed. “Just competing against them, I feel it’s the highest form of respect,” she said.

Another UConn great, perhaps the greatest of them all, Diana Taurasi, told The Athletic she’s convinced Bueckers will one day be“the best player in the league, for sure.” No reason to disagree in this game. Surrounded by grown women, bigger, strong, more experienced, she looked as unintimidated by the competition as she usually did at UConn.

In a consequential year, Bueckers has been checking off the unchecked boxes. Get UConn back on top, check. Top pick in the draft, check. Hit the floor running in the WNBA, check. Now her first win is in the books.

Ever the crowd favorite, former UConn star Paige Bueckers returned to Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday night. It came in a building in which she has never lost, not during any of the Huskies’ four romps through Big East tournaments at Mohegan. With the Sun’s latest reboot not going so well, it may be a while before Bueckers ever loses a game in this arena.

How much more will we get to see of Paige Bueckers here? The Wings return June 20, and the Sun’s future beyond this season is clouded, but she left the state with something more to remember her by — her first win in The W, a signature performance to match the dozens of autographs she signed for fans bunching near the tunnel, helping to win another basketball game every which way. It all seemed just about right.

“It felt great just to play like that as a team,” she said. “Obviously that environment is special to me, but to be able play like that as a team, put a full 40 minutes together and come out with a win and stay connected throughout the entire game, put it together like that. It felt good to be out there.”

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