– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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UNCASVILLE, CONNECTICUT — While no regular-season game in the WNBA can be considered a tune-up, the Atlanta Dream are just a couple of days away from what should be a attention-grabbing, possible playoff-position-determining contest against the traveling road show that is the Indiana Fever on Sunday. A couple of days before that, however, the Dream put on a show that showed that they’re hitting form at the right time.
Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray each scored 29 points as the Dream dominated from start to finish during their 104-69 drubbing of the Connecticut Sun inside Mohegan Sun Arena on Thursday night. Angel Reese added 15 rebounds with four blocked shots while setting the franchise record for most total rebounds (375) in a single season. Atlanta has won three of its last four games.
Howard scored five points during a quarter-closing 14-5 run for Atlanta that broke open a tight first few minutes of the game and gave the Dream a 28-17 lead after the first 10 minutes. Gray closed the run, and the quarter, with a 34-foot three-pointer as the shot clock was running out.
Atlanta’s lead ballooned to 20 just before the half and the bulge settled at 51-32 at the intermission. Though the Dream went just 5-for-12 from the field in the frame, they scored 11 of their points from the free throw line, with Howard sinking eight of nine from the charity stripe.
Howard, who tallied 10 of Atlanta’s first 12 points, scored 23 of her 29 in the first half, and she and Gray combined to hit 15 of their 23 shots, including 9 of 13 three-pointers and 19 of 21 free throws. Gray tied her season high for points.
“Looking for quick, easy shots really got me going,” Howard said. “Obviously, my teammates, once they realized I was hot, [they] kept feeding me.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 19 pictures in total.
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