Rhyne Howard scored 25 points and dished out seven assists to help the visiting Atlanta Dream post an 85-75 victory over the Seattle Storm on Wednesday.
Allisha Gray added 22 points and 11 rebounds for Atlanta (21-11), which extended its season-best winning streak to six games. Brittney Griner had 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench, while Maya Caldwell chipped in 10 points in the win.
Seattle (16-17) dropped its sixth straight game despite Nneka Ogwumike’s 29 points and nine rebounds. Gabby Williams amassed 11 points and six assists for the Storm.
After holding a two-point lead at halftime, Atlanta extended the margin to eight when Brionna Jones scored her first two baskets of the game before Gray made a layup at the 7:02 mark. From there, Seattle answered with a 10-1 run — including five points from Ogwumike — to grab a 49-48 lead.
Howard’s layup then began an 11-5 run as the Dream took a 59-52 edge with just over a minute left in the third. Howard then connected on three 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the quarter to give Atlanta a 68-54 lead entering the fourth.
The gap ballooned to 16 on Howard’s fifth triple of the night at the 7:11 mark of the final quarter. A late Seattle run cut the deficit to eight, but that was as close as the Storm would come.
After Williams’ layup gave Seattle an early 16-13 lead, Caldwell made a pair of 3-pointers as part of an 11-0 Atlanta spurt to help the Dream take an eight-point edge. Dominique Molanga’s hook shot cut the Storm’s deficit to 24-18 entering the second quarter.
Griner made just her fifth 3-pointer of the season to push Atlanta’s lead to 31-21, but Ezi Magbegor’s layup and Ogwumike’s back-to-back baskets pulled the Storm within four with 4:38 left in the second quarter.
Te-Hina Paopao’s only basket of the game gave the Dream a seven-point lead with just over a minute left in the first half. Ogwumike’s triple and Brittney Sykes’ free throws cut the Storm’s halftime deficit to 41-39.
–Field Level Media
