Rhyne Howard dominated to the tune of a career-high 43 points, carrying the Atlanta Dream to a 112-84 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday afternoon.

The reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year was 14-for-20 from the field, including a 6-for-12 showing from distance while scoring 20 or more for the sixth time in 2023. She had 25 points in the first half alone.

Allisah Gray chipped in 15 points and Nia Coffey added 13 as the Dream (7-8) won their second straight and sent the Sparks (7-10) to their third consecutive loss.

Nneka Ogwumike poured in 25 points on her 33rd birthday while Dearica Hamby (18), Azura Stevens (13) and Zia Cooke (11) also reached double figures for the Sparks, who ended their three-game road swing without a win.

Playing in front of a sellout crowd, the Dream heated up early on the strength of two 3-pointers by Coffey and a stretch of 11 straight points by Howard as Atlanta led 34-28 after one.

Azura Stevens helped lead a comeback, hitting a 3-pointer with 6:49 left in the second quarter that gave the Sparks a 40-37 lead.

The lead didn’t last long largely because of Howard, who hit one 3-pointer that put the Dream up 47-44 with 3:23 left and then drilled a second one two minutes later as Atlanta took a 54-48 edge into halftime.

The No. 1 pick in last year’s draft has had only two games this season where she hasn’t scored in double figures. Her fifth 3-pointer gave the Dream their first double-digit lead at 71-61 with 3:28 left in the third.

Atlanta shot 54.4 percent while Los Angeles connected on 41.8 percent of its shots.

Sunday’s game was the first of four meetings between the Sparks and Dream. They play again Wednesday in Los Angeles.

–Field Level Media