The Dream lost a double-digit lead on Sunday.
New York — The Atlanta Dream lost to the New York Liberty for the third time this season. The Liberty defeated the Dream 81-75 at the Barclays Center in New York on Sunday afternoon.
The Dream have only won one game in their last five contests. The Dream’s overall record is 7-10 on the regular season and they are currently in third place in the Eastern Conference.
The Dream have many injuries on the roster, and it has forced head coach Tanisha Wright to change the starting lineup. The Dream started Jordin Canada, Haley Jones, Allisha Gray, Nia Coffey and Tina Charles. It was the first time all season that the Dream started this lineup.
“It was a hard-fought game from our crew, and I’m really proud of the way we fought. I think down the stretch we started to get a little mental fatigue as we had some turnovers that really turned the tide, and we made some mental mistakes defensive on some of our coverages. When it happens like that, we got to have short term memory, we got to go back home and play with the same level of focus and intensity,” said coach Wright.
The Dream started the game fast as they outscored Liberty 24-13 in the first quarter. At one point the Dream went on a 24-9 run as they played outstanding team defense in the first quarter. New York only shot 27.8 from the field as Atlanta rotated and forced several challenging shots in the quarter.
Liberty would have a better second quarter as they scored 23 points. Liberty did a great job of taking advantage of the Dream turnovers. The Dream had 18 turnovers overall and Liberty was able to convert that into eight points.
With the win, the Liberty advanced to 16-3 overall on the season. Liberty was led by forward Breanna Stewart as she had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Stewart took advantage of the Dream missing one of the top defenders in the league in Rhyne Howard.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton also had a great game as she contributed 18 points, five rebounds, and six assists. The Dream were able to dominate the paint as they scored 36 points in the paint while also outrebounding Liberty 37-28. The Dream also outscored Liberty in fastbreak points 12-7.
The Dream were led Allisha Gray as she scored 24 points. Tina Charles had another double-double as she scored 16 points while grabbing 12 rebounds. It was Charles’ seventh double-double of the season. Cheyenne Parker-Tyus was good off the bench as she had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Parker-Tyus’ energy and effort was needed off the bench as the Dream was without Aerial Powers.
In a losing cause Canada also had a good game in her first start of the season. Canada finished the game with nine points and nine assists.
Atlanta will be back in action against Chicago on July 2nd. Atlanta defeated Chicago 89-80 on June 8.