ATLANTA – Angel Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds to help the Atlanta Dream run away with a 97-71 victory over the Golden State Valkyries to take a 2-1 series lead in the WNBA Finals on Wednesday night.
Rhyne Howard added 16 points and Naz Hillmon scored 15 for the fourth-seeded Dream, who outscored Golden State 51-31 in the second half en route to their first-ever home Finals win.
Isobel Borlase chipped in 12 points, while Jordin Canada finished with 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds in Atlanta’s second straight win in the best-of-seven series.
Gabby Williams led Golden State by 15 points on an ineffective 5-of-18 shooting. Tiffany Hayes added 14 points, while Janelle Salaun and Cecilia Zandalasini scored 13 apiece. Kiah Stokes collected a team-high 11 rebounds for the second-seeded Valkyries, who never led.
Trailing by six at halftime, Golden State began the second half on an 8-2 run — including a pair of 3-pointers from Zandalasini — to even the score at 48 with 8:52 left in the third quarter.
The Dream responded with eight straight points to take a 57-49 lead at the 5:25 mark of the third.
A 3-pointer by DeWanna Bonner and a layup by Hillmon bookended a 12-2 run to finish the third quarter and give the Dream a 71-57 advantage.
Golden State’s Veronica Burton made a 3-pointer for her only field goal of the night, but Howard answered with five of the Dream’s seven straight points to build the margin to 20.
Golden State missed its first eight shots from the field and was held scoreless until the 5:07 mark of the first quarter, when Kaila Charles split a pair of free throws to cut the visitors’ deficit to 6-1.
Hillmon drilled consecutive 3-pointers to give Atlanta a nine-point edge before Reese hit a triple to make it 22-12. The Dream led 23-15 entering the second quarter.
After Canada made a layup to stamp an 8-0 Atlanta run, Salaun connected on a trey to jumpstart an 11-4 spurt to pull the Valkyries within five with 3:16 remaining in the first half.
Reese’s 15 first-half points led Atlanta, which took a 46-40 lead into the break.
–Jack Batten, Field Level Media
