Rhyne Howard scored 24 points and blocked a career-high six shots as the Atlanta Dream clinched a playoff spot with a 100-78 win over the Dallas Wings on Friday in College Park, Ga.
Howard played motivated basketball after she ridiculed the local fans for chanting “MVP” for Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson on Wednesday night. She finished with five assists and four rebounds on top of 6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. The Atlanta star shot only 2-for-10 from deep in the previous game.
Allisha Gray added 19 points and Brionna Jones scored 16 for the Dream (25-14).
Atlanta had a scare in the second quarter when MVP candidate Gray, who locked up the franchise record for most points in a season, took an inadvertent knock to the face by Diamond Miller. After defending a Miller layup, Gray went to the ground. Miller rebounded the loose ball and went up for a layup, and Miller’s knee collided with the guard’s face.
Dallas (9-31) got off to a hot start in the return of rookie star Paige Bueckers, who missed a loss to the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday due to illness, but the Wings could not hold off the Dream offense. In the second quarter, the Wings had a five-point lead before Atlanta responded with a 13-point run.
In the third quarter, Dallas trimmed the Atlanta advantage to four points but could not stop the Dream in the fourth quarter, with the home side scoring the first 10 points and pushing their lead to a game-high 15 points.
Maddy Siegrist led the Wings with 23 points in their seventh consecutive loss, and she made three of Dallas’ five 3-pointers. Bueckers had her second double-double of the season, 16 points and 10 assists, despite still looking under the weather in pregame warm-ups.
–Field Level Media
