Following a rare setback, the Minnesota Lynx will try to avoid another loss on Friday when they face the Atlanta Dream in College Park, Ga.
Minnesota (12-2) has gone 3-2 since its 9-0 start to the season, falling in its most recent outing 68-64 on the road Tuesday against the Washington Mystics. Despite Alanna Smith leading the way with a career-high 26 points, the Lynx had just nine fourth-quarter points and shot 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) on 3-point attempts in the loss.
“It’s certainly frustrating. It’s frustrating for everybody,” Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “It’s probably more frustrating for the ones in it who want the ball to go in the hole.”
Smith, in her second year with Minnesota, paired her career scoring night with six blocks, increasing her blocks per game average to 2.5, ranking second in the league behind A’ja Wilson (2.6).
With the league’s leading scorer Napheesa Collier (24.4 points per game) out with a lower back injury for the Lynx, Smith will be asked to shoulder a bigger load in the coming weeks.
“When you’re missing a player like Napheesa, you do feel like you have to fill that hole, but to be honest, that’s how I approach every game defensively, not trying to let my player score,” Smith said.
Kayla McBride adds 15.2 points per game, followed by Courtney Williams’ 12.8 and Smith’s 11.1
Atlanta (10-5) is coming off one of its most disappointing outings of the season, as the host Dallas Wings halted the Dream’s two-game winning streak with a 68-55 upset Tuesday.
Atlanta shot a season-worst 23.4 percent from the field (15 of 64) and 20.6 percent on 3-pointers (7 of 34) en route to its largest loss of the year.
“We struggled to get anything going,” Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko said. “We just didn’t see many shots fall, and we got a little bit frustrated by that. I give Dallas a lot of credit, but we’ll have to take a look at it and see what we can do better.”
Allisha Gray, who shot 3-for-16 in the loss on Tuesday, paces Atlanta with 19.7 points per game. Rhyne Howard adds 17.7 ppg as well as team-leading averages of 4.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
–Field Level Media
