Dream dominate Wings as Rhyne Howard returns
The Dream knew they needed to start their games with more urgency. Bolstered by their home crowd, the Dream nearly pulled off a wire-to-wire win in Friday night’s action at the Gateway Center Arena.
Behind a strong outing from Rhyne Howard in her return from concussion protocol, the Dream downed the Wings, 86-69.
Quick stats
Howard led all scorers with 25 points, eight assists and four steals. Allisha Gray had 16 points, while Angel Reese finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Paige Bueckers (7 points) and Arike Ogunbowale (2 points) combined for 4-of-24 overall shooting for Dallas, while No. 1 overall pick Azzi Fudd finished with seven points.
Key run
The Wings wouldn’t go away and completely cut away a 16-point Dream lead. The Dream spotted the Wings a 27-point third quarter, then allowed them a 9-0 run to open the fourth.
But after an empty possession led to a Fudd 3-pointer and Odyssey Sims converted a steal to give the Wings a 64-63 lead, the Dream called a timeout.
It settled them, and they rattled off an 8-0 run that included layups from Howard, Gray, Reese and Hillmon. The Dream went on to outscore the Wings 23-11 in the final frame.
Highlight play
Reese bounced back from one of her quieter offensive outings on Saturday. She got active early in Friday night’s game and showed aggressiveness in getting to the rim.
The two-time All-Star scored back-to-back buckets early in the second quarter as the Wings climbed back into the game.
With 8:31 in the second, Reese grabbed an offensive board, quickly reset and went straight up for the layup between a pair of defenders. Thirty seconds later, she went straight at her defender on a drive off a pass from guard Jordin Canada.
What they said
“He really didn’t have to say anything that we weren’t already saying. Just continue to lock in and do the things that were working. I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit in that period, but being able to come back after that and get back to what was working, get back to doing and making things hard, and just making the easy play for us.” -- Howard on what coach Karl Smesko said during the team’s final timeout.
“We emphasize a lot on defense. Karl also talked a lot about what the team looked like last year, when the first 38 minutes we were the best team in the league, and in the last 10 minutes we were last. So, we wanted to make sure we emphasize 40 minutes of their defense and continuing that...” -- Reese on holding the Wings to just 11 points in the fourth quarter.
“It’s good to see it. It’s one of those things where you want to be great from the very beginning. But you’re in a new system. You’re learning the system. You’re trying to see the opportunities within the system. I don’t think it’s realistic in two weeks to suddenly understand something. And a lot of our language is -- there’s no way to know it, because I made it up -- so there’s no way to come in and just be like, ‘Oh, I got this.’ It takes a little bit of time.” -- Smesko on Reese bouncing back from last Saturday.
Up next
The Dream host the Mercury in matinee action on Sunday at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park.
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