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Atlanta Fought Hard To Keep The Pace Against The Aces In The First Half

 

COLLEGE PARK, GA – AUGUST 22: Haley Jones #13 of Atlanta Dream contests shot against Kelsey Plum #10 of the Las Vegas Aces on August 22, 2023 at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia. (Photo by Derek White/NBAE via Getty Images)

 

Jones Scores Career-High 23 Points

By: Jameelah Johnson

As the Atlanta Dream (16-17) came off of an impressive win over Chicago, the Las Vegas Aces (29-4) sought to bounce back after a loss to Los Angeles. 

Dream’s Rhyne Howard returned to the starting lineup after missing Friday’s game due to a face/nose injury, she wore a face mask to protect herself. She scored 27 points while shooting over 50% from the field. Atlanta’s Haley Jones came off the bench to put up a career-high 23 points.

Aces’ A’ja Wilson scored a career-high 53 points and tied the WNBA record for points scored in a game. Her teammate Chelsea Gray finished with a double-double of 16 points and 12 assists. 

Atlanta fought hard to keep the pace against the Aces in the first quarter and were even down as many as 10 points to the reigning champions but they came back to win the quarter 34-33 behind Howard’s 12 points. A very close battle ensued in the second quarter as the Aces outscored the Dream by two points to close the first half.

Atlanta let the third quarter slip away from them as they couldn’t get anything going offensively (shot 4-for-16 from the field) and the Aces capitalized. Wilson and Gray scored 21 of the Aces’ 26 third quarter points. Although Atlanta outscored them in the final period by two points, the lack of offense from the third proved to be too big to overcome.

The Dream face the Sparks at home on Friday, August 25 at 8pm ET.

 

Lineup Notes:

Nia Coffey (hand) remained out for her second game, Allisha Gray (ankle) sat out with a boot.

Atlanta: Danielle Robinson, Aari McDonald, Rhyne Howard, Naz Hillmon and Cheyenne Parker. 

 

Las Vegas: Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray, A’ja Wilson and Kiah Stokes.

 

Game Highlights:

Parker got things going for Atlanta as she knocked down a long two to get the Dream on the board.

 

 

Jones put her offensive package on display right off the bench. She showed how she is more than a passer as she drove the baseline and faked for the reverse layup. 

 

 

Howard hit her first two 3-pointers off of assists from Jones. Jones not only dished it to Howard but also set the screen giving Howard space to shoot it off of the switch.

 

 

The guards went to their speed to get to the basket in transition. Neither McDonald nor Robinson allowed the Aces defense to set in order to score.

 

 

Jones scored 15 of her 23 points in the final quarter. She hit a three, made all four of her free throw attempts, and hit five of her seven shot attempts. 

 

 

Postgame Sounds:

Atlanta Dream head coach Tanisha Wright: “Again, not the ending that we wanted, but I thought, for three quarters, we fought. That third quarter really got us. I think our shot selection wasn’t great and just the ability to get stops down the stretch when we really needed to get shots.”

Haley Jones on her mindset: “I think I have the same mindset going into every game. I think recently we’ve had some people go down so T, and just our team, we talk about ‘next person up.’ And so I just try to pick my spots. But I think my teammates did a really good job of playmaking, and I think recently we’ve done a better job of just having more flow.”

 

Stats:

Atlanta: 49.3% (33-of-67 FG) from the field

Las Vegas: 50.7% (35-of-69 FG) from the field 

 

Atlanta: 28-of-33 from the line

Las Vegas: 34-of-36 from the line

 

Atlanta: 30 rebounds (five offensive)

Las Vegas: 34 rebounds (five offensive)

 

Atlanta: 

Rhyne Howard: 27 points (9-16 FG, 6-8 FT), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals; Haley Jones: 23 points (8-13 FG, 6-6 FT), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals

Las Vegas:

A’ja Wilson: 53 points (16-23 FG, 20-21 FT), 7 rebounds, 4 blocks; Kelsey Plum: 20 points (5-8 FG, 7-7 FT)