Allisha Gray continued her stellar season with 27 points to help the Dream overcome a slow start and hold off the Lynx, 75-73, on Thursday in Atlanta.
The Dream (23-13), who defeated the Lynx for the second time this season, moved into first place in the Eastern Conference standings. The loss gave the Lynx (28-7), who were playing their sixth consecutive game without Napheesa Collier, their first two-game losing streak of the season. The Lynx lost at New York 85-75 on Tuesday.
“I thought we were ready but we just didn’t perform well,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve told reporters after the game. “We did so many things well, but there were some little things we weren’t good at tonight. Atlanta is a good team. Our starters were good tonight, but we didn’t get much out of our bench.”
The Lynx took a six-point lead into the fourth quarter, but the Dream opened with a 12-0 run — fueled by two three-pointers by Gray — to open a 66-60 lead. The Lynx got within one with three minutes remaining but, Gray scored to give Atlanta a 70-67 lead with 2 minutes, 42 seconds left.
Jessica Shepard’s basket with 20 seconds remaining got the Lynx within 75-73.
Rhyne Howard added 16 points for Atlanta. Bridget Carleton scored 16 points, Shepard had 15 points and 16 rebounds and Kayla McBride scored 15 for the Lynx.
With McBride scoring 10 points and Carleton scoring eight points in the game’s first seven minutes, the Lynx opened a 24-15 lead with three minutes left in the first quarter. But they scored just 16 points in the final 13 minutes of the first half as the Dream forged a 42-40 halftime lead.
The Dream outscored the Lynx 10-0 over the final minutes of the first quarter and then scored the first five points of the second quarter to open a 30-24 lead. The Dream eventually built a 42-32 lead with four minutes left in the first half.