Alyssa Thomas #25 of the Connecticut Sun and Monique Billings #25 of the Atlanta Dream go up for the rebound during the game on July 20, 2023 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Copyright 2023 NBAE (Photo by Chris Marion/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Dream (12-9) have played thier way into the playoff conversation

By Jim Fuller  

When Allisha Gray opened the scoring in the second half with a three-point play, it was looking as if the Atlanta Dream might be walking out of Mohegan Sun Arena with a victory for the second time this season. 

An offensive explosion from Connecticut Sun guard Natisha Hiedeman and a difficult stretch on both ends of the floor, ending those hopes as Atlanta’s seven-game winning streak ended with an 82-71 defeat on Thursday. 

Atlanta’s head coach Tanisha Wright put much of the blame on the third quarter when her team was just 7-of-14 from the field and committed four turnovers. 

“I’ll take that,” Wright said. “I should have called timeout. I probably should have settled our troops a little bit and given them something to settle them down so that was on me.” 

Hiedeman hit three 3-pointers and had all of Connecticut’s points in a 13-5 run in the third quarter to put the Sun up by four points. 

Hiedeman added two more 3-pointers in the third quarter to give the Sun an eight-point lead heading into the final quarter. The first of those threes was set up by a hustling Alyssa Thomas allowing the Sun to maintain possession. The second three from Hiedeman came from an inbound play with 17 seconds remaining in the quarter and 1 second left on the shot clock.   

“The turnovers lead to easy stuff for them,” Wright said. “We just didn’t do a good job of adapting to that, taking away her space and making her take tougher 3s. I thought she was just hot, heat check and that kind of stuff. We just have to do a better job of that. I don’t know why we got frantic, but I should have called (a timeout) I should have called two timeouts.” 

Connecticut used a 9-0 run to take the early nine-point lead before Atlanta began to chip away by scoring 11 of the last 13 points of the fourth quarter. 

Allisha Gray’s 3-point play early in the second half and a pair of Gray foul shots pushed the advantage to 29-21. 

Connecticut would rally to regain the lead after the starting lineup came back into the game. A 3-pointer by Gray and a pair of late foul shots by Howard gave Atlanta the 41-38 lead at halftime. 

Howard had 22 points and extended her WNBA record of securing at least two 3-pointers in 19 games consecutively. Gray had 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists and Nia Coffey had 13 points and 13 rebounds. 

Cheyenne Parker didn’t start for Atlanta and finished with five points and five rebounds in 17 minutes. Monique Billings got the start and had three points and three rebounds in 15 minutes. 

Wright said the move was a “coach’s decision.” 

Hiedeman had 20 of her 26 points in the third quarter for Connecticut (16-6). 

Even with the loss, Atlanta is 12-9 and has played their way into the playoff conversation. 

“I think we kind of gelled, learned from each other and our chemistry is coming together,” Gray said. 

Coffey had her second straight double-double and having played for Atlanta in 2019 before returning last year, she is thrilled to see the Dream stringing together some victories. 

“I think we have been putting in the work,” Coffey said “We are really coming together.”