The Atlanta Dream almost overcame a poor shooting night but couldn’t hold on to defeat the Washington Mystics, falling 81-76 on Thursday at CareFirst Arena.

The Dream (12-8) saw Allisha Gray and Jordin Canada reach career milestones as the positives from the team's fourth consecutive loss, all on the road.

Atlanta was undone by shooting 36.3%, including 22.6% of its 3-pointers. It stayed in the game through defense, turning 28 Mystics turnovers into 28 points. Washington hit 55.4% of its shots, including 56.3% of its 3s.

“Coach talked about in the locker room of us being tested right now,” Canada said. “We've gone through adversity on this road trip, and it's up to us to figure out how we're going to come together. There's been a lot of things that have not gone our way on this road trip, and to be honest, throughout our season, but I think at the end of the day we're going to figure it out.”

Rhyne Howard led the Dream with 24 points. Gray had 17, including making the 1,500th field goal in her career with 7:42 remaining in the second quarter. She became the 57th player in WNBA history to achieve that feat. Canada scored 10 points with seven assists and two steals. Her second was the 400th of her career.

For the second time in three games, the Dream expressed frustration with the officiating.

“I think our players have a right to be frustrated with that,” Dream Head Coach Karl Smesko.  “We're going to have to figure out how to win some games, despite, I would say sub-par … officiating.”

Canada pointed out an example where she was called for a foul for touching the ball and then colliding with a Mystics player, but that foul wasn't called against Washington when the same play happened against her later in the game.

“Anytime we tried to play physical, it was always a foul call,” Canada said. “So, I think the officiating has to be better.”

The Dream built a six-point lead on a Howard 3-pointer with 8:27 remaining.

Washington answered with an eight-point run that included five points from Kiki Iriafen to take a 67-65 lead with 6:28 remaining.

Howard hit another 3-pointer to push the Dream ahead, 68-67, with 6:07 remaining.

The teams continued to trade points until the final minute.

An Angel Reese spinning hook shot cut Washington’s lead to 78-76 with 1:12 remaining.

Both teams missed long jumpers.

Naz Hillmon, who came off the bench for the second consecutive game, fouled Alicia Florez with 5 seconds remaining on the shot clock and 12.5 seconds remaining in the game.

The Dream’s defense held on the ensuing inbounds, with the referee signaling a 5-second violation, then changed that call to say Washington called a timeout before the violation. After the timeout, the Mystics hit a free throw to seal the win.

The Dream returns home for a 1 pm matinee on Saturday when it hosts Golden State at Gateway Center Arena.