The Atlanta Dream, despite a poor shooting night, had three chances on its final possession to defeat the Indiana Fever, but the visitors pulled away in overtime, 95-91, on Sunday at State Farm Arena.

“It’s disappointing to come up short when we had an opportunity to win at the end,” Dream Head Coach Karl Smesko said.

The showdown between the top two teams in the East featured hard fouls and exciting moments but saw Atlanta’s (21-13) two-game winning streak stopped after it was outscored 31-19 in the fourth quarter and overtime. Smesko said Indiana switched to a zone defense, which contributed to his team becoming more passive on offense in the final two periods. Atlanta was without point guard Jordin Canada (illness), who Smesko said would have helped them against the zone.

Atlanta shot 35.4% from the field, missing 53 of its 82 shots. Allisha Gray tied her career-high with 32 points. Rhyne Howard finished with 17 points, Angel Reese 15 with 14 rebounds, and Isobel Borlase 10. The Dream was also without key backup Bri Jones. Te-Hina Paopao returned.

“The players we had today gave us a chance to win,” Smesko said.

Indiana had four starters finish with least 18 points, led by Caitlin Clark’s 26. Indiana finished with 38 points in the paint compared to Atlanta’s 36.

The teams split the four-game series.

The hot start the Dream had in its previous two games didn’t happen against the Fever. The good news for Atlanta was despite Reese missing six of her first seven shots the teams were tied at 21 at the end of the first quarter.

Atlanta’s defense helped its offense in the second quarter and the team took a 44-40 lead at halftime. Gray scored nine points in the quarter and Reese hit 2-of-3 shots to score five points. Reese was called for her third personal foul with 1:31 remaining.

Atlanta had three chances to win the game on its final possession with 13.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

It started with Howard missing a 25-foot 3-pointer from near the top of the arc. Reese grabbed the rebound but missed the layup. Hillmon grabbed that rebound and missed that layup as the buzzer sounded.

“We got two looks right at the end of the game that could have won it, but they rolled out,” Smesko said. “Just kind of a bad break.”

The Fever, helped by turnovers on back-to-back Dream possessions, took an 87-83 lead with 2:57 remaining in overtime. That lead increased to 89-83 before the Dream answered with a Hillmon layup to cut its deficit to four.

Howard completed a three-point play to cut Atlanta’s gap to 91-88 with 1:10 remaining. Both teams missed shots on their next possessions, resulting in Indiana having the ball and calling timeout with 23.4 seconds remaining on the game clock and 13 seconds on the shot clock.

Kelsey Mitchell beat Reese to the basket and got the layup to put Atlanta behind 93-88.

Howard was fouled by Clark while shooting a 3-pointer with 10.8 seconds remaining. Howard hit all of the free throws to keep Atlanta alive, 93-91.

Clark hit two free throws to build the Fever’s lead back to four with 9.8 seconds remaining. Borlase missed a 3-pointer for the Dream with six seconds remaining to end the game.

“We were right there,” Smesko said. “That’s why it hurts so bad.”