sellout for Game 6<\/a> despite the much-criticized 12:30 p.m. EDT tipoff. There were only scattered empty seats in the upper level despite concerns about work and school obligations hurting the turnout.<\/p>\nAngel Reese recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds for Atlanta. Gabby Williams led the Valkyries with 26 points. Tiffany Hayes added 15.<\/p>\n
Atlanta\u2019s biggest lead was 25 points. The Valkyries stormed back in the final minutes, pulling to 77-66 on Laeticia Amihere\u2019s two free throws with 1:57 remaining.<\/p>\n
After being held to 22 points in the first half of their 65-55 loss in Game 5, the Dream matched that total in the first 6:30 of the opening quarter.<\/p>\n
Much of the production came on 3s. Atlanta made 6 of 8 3s and 11 of 15 shots overall while racing to a 32-15 lead in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
After leading 6-5, the Dream pulled away with 13 unanswered points in a run that included two 3s from Jordin Canada.<\/p>\n
Reese joined the 3-point party with a shot from the corner in the second period. Entering the game, the Dream were 15-0 when Reese had at least one 3.<\/p>\n
While Atlanta\u2019s sharp shooting continued for a 46-26 halftime lead, the Valkyries struggled. Golden State made only 9 of 34 shots in the half, often struggling to create open opportunities because of the Dream\u2019s smothering defense.<\/p>\n
Howard opened the second half with another 3-pointer. Valkyries guard Veronica Burton was called for a flagrant foul later midway through the third period when an officials\u2019 review determined she made an unnecessary windup and contact on Howard\u2019s face as Howard was driving for a basket.<\/p>\n
Kaila Charles closed the third quarter with a 3-pointer for Golden State that trimmed Atlanta\u2019s lead to 16 points at 63-47. It was the smallest lead for the Dream since the 13-0 run in the opening period.<\/p>\n
Golden State pulled to within 13 points at 68-55 before Gray and Reese sank 3s to push the lead to 74-55. Williams\u2019 three-point play cut the led to 77-69 before Gray sank a crucial 3-pointer for Atlanta.<\/p>\n
Hayes was called for her fifth foul in a collision for a loose ball with 5:01 remaining. Hayes left the court slowly after receiving attention from a trainer.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full WNBA coverage here<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By CHARLES ODUM ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Allisha Gray scored 23 points and Rhyne Howard had 21 as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-899159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}