By Sydney Gibbs
The Atlanta Dream (2-7) extended their losing streak to six games as they fell 100-63 to the Seattle Storm (8-1) on Wednesday night. This was the worst loss for Atlanta through nine games, losing by a wide margin of 37 points.
“Against a team this good we needed to make enough shots to continue to make it competitive,” said head coach Nicki Collen. “Obviously they made everything they took but in this league, when you get in a game that you’re up 20 or 25 points and the pressure’s off –– all of a sudden it’s a playground out there. There’s no thinking going on and I think that’s the big difference in this one.”
Through the duration of the game, Seattle was in complete control and it seemed that everything was going their way. In the first two quarters of the game, half their shots never missed the basket –– shooting a solid 50 percent from the field. The Dream, on the other hand, were only making 32 percent of their shots.
Atlanta forward Betnijah Laney led the team in scoring with 17 points and three assists. Guard Blake Dietrick made her first start of the season and finished the night with 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
The Dream kept making quiet runs to get themselves in the game but the second quarter told a different story. The Storm busted the gates wide open and extended their lead to as much as 20. Seattle took a confident 47-28 lead at the half.
Dietrick’s 24-foot three-pointer at the start of the third quarter wasn’t enough to give the Dream a much needed spark on offense. The next 20 minutes were no different than the previous 10 as the Storm never gave up their lead. Seattle outscored Atlanta in every quarter and took their largest lead of the game in the final period –– stretching it to as much as 43 points.
Seattle’s Jewell Loyd and Sami Whitcomb led all scorers with 20 points. Alysha Clark added 16 points and four assists.
The Dream finished the game scoring and shooting a season-low of 63 points and 36.5 percent from the field. Much of the vulnerability and ineffectiveness on offense was mostly due to the team playing without their leading scorer Chennedy Carter, who is out for two weeks with an left ankle injury.
“I was scared to death that we weren’t going to offensively function without Chennedy,” said Collen. “But I thought that if you go back and watch the film –– we got layups and open threes in the first two quarters. I thought we functioned at a high level.”
The Dream will play another late night matchup against the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night at 10 p.m. ET on Fox Sports Southeast.