Allisha Gray registered 19 points and six rebounds, and the Atlanta Dream stretched their winning streak to six games with a comfortable 85-75 victory over the visiting Seattle Storm on Wednesday night.
Fellow Atlanta All-Stars Cheyenne Parker and Rhyne Howard also had productive nights as the Dream (11-8) posted a double-digit win for the fifth straight game. Parker had 18 points and six rebounds, and Howard had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Seattle was without five-time All-Star Jewell Loyd due to a right foot injury while losing for the seventh straight time and ninth in 10 games. Loyd was ruled out shortly before tipoff one night after matching the WNBA record of nine 3-pointers during a road loss to the Washington Mystics.
Seattle rookie Jordan Horston scored a career-best 23 points and also collected 10 rebounds. Another rookie, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, recorded 13 points and six rebounds while Joyner Holmes and Gabby Williams added 10 points apiece for the Storm (4-16), who have the league’s worst record entering the All-Star break.
The Dream shot 46.4 percent from the field, including a shaky 4 of 19 from 3-point range. Atlanta outrebounded the Storm 45-32 and had a 15-3 edge in second-chance points.
Seattle made 37.3 percent of its shots and was 7 of 21 from behind the arc.
Howard had six first-quarter points as Atlanta led 27-17 entering the second. She knocked down a trey with 1.3 seconds left in the half to give the Dream a 48-33 advantage.
Gray had 14 first-half points for Atlanta while Horston had 13 for Seattle.
The Dream scored the first seven points of the third quarter to increase their lead to 22. Atlanta eventually took a 69-49 lead into the final stanza.
The Dream held a game-high, 24-point lead after Naz Hillmon’s layup made it 76-52 with 7:38 remaining in the contest.
A short time later, Seattle exploded with a 21-5 burst and Sami Whitcomb capped it with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 83-75 with 1:18 left.
Parker’s layup pushed Atlanta’s lead back to 10 with 56.5 seconds left and effectively sealed the contest.
–Field Level Media
