The Atlanta Dream will strive to continue their solid start to the season and build on a two-game winning streak when they square off against the Dallas Wings on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.
The Dream (10-4) travel to the Lone Star State on the heels of a 93-80 win at home over Chicago on Sunday. Atlanta has captured five of its past six games and beat the Wings 83-75 at home in the teams’ first meeting on May 24.
Atlanta got 22 points from Rhyne Howard and 19 from Allisha Gray in its victory against Chicago but needed a huge fourth quarter in which it canned six 3-pointers to produce the win. Te-Hina Paopao added 16 points for the Dream, while Brionna Jones posted a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds and Naz Hillmon scored for 12 points.
Gray and Paopao each canned five shots from beyond the arc, but Howard (four 3-pointers) remains the straw that stirs the drink for the Dream.
“The more aggressive she gets looking for opportunities, it opens up a lot of things for everybody,” Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said of Howard. “(Defenders) start running at her, she uses her shot fake, then she can get downhill (to the basket). Once they help, she can move it to somebody else or try to finish and a lot of times to get to the foul line.”
Atlanta has been uber-balanced this season, with five different players finishing as the team’s leading scorer in 15 games.
The Wings (3-12) begin a four-game homestand after a 91-88 overtime loss at Washington on Sunday. Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 27 points and rookie guard Paige Bueckers added 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
“The starting group actually wasn’t great (against Washington),” Dallas coach Chris Koclanes said. “We are still working on finding (starting) lineups that really work. I keep talking about it every night, but it’s our competitive depth that keeps us in these games.”
Bueckers hit the game-tying 3-pointer late in regulation of a back-and-forth contest and then scored the Wings’ first four points in OT before Washington took charge and held on to snap Dallas’ meager two-game winning streak.
Bueckers passed Caitlin Clark to become the fastest player in WNBA history to record 200 or more points and 50 or more assists, doing so in just 11 games.
DiJonai Carrington, Dallas’ third-leading scorer on the season, missed the game in D.C. with a rib injury that could keep her out for Tuesday’s contest as well.
–Field Level Media
