Jordin Canada scored a season-high 23 points and moved into 10th in Atlanta Dream history in steals, but the feats weren’t enough to keep the team from losing to the Golden State Valkyries 75-72 on Friday at The Chase Center.

“I tried to be a little bit aggressive tonight to start, and then I just had a flow, but to be honest, it doesn't even really matter,” Canada said. “I had a good game, but at the end of the day, we needed to execute down the stretch, and we didn't do our job.”

It marked the first time this season that Atlanta (12-6) lost consecutive games. Both were to the Valkyries. Atlanta had its second consecutive poor shooting night, hitting just 34.3% of its attempts, including 30% of its 3-pointers. It shot 39.1%, including 22.2%, in Wednesday’s 77-66 loss.

“I'm not making excuses for our players, and they wouldn't want me to; we’ve got great players,” Atlanta Head Coach Karl Smesko said. “They really competed about as hard as they can. Unfortunately, they didn't have a great shooting night. Those things happen, but I'm all on board with them.”

Rhyne Howard passed Sancho Lyttle to move into third in the Dream’s all-time scoring list. Howard finished with nine points and has 2,637 points in her career. She trails Angel McCoughtry (5,648 points) and Tiffany Hayes (3,828).

Angel Reese had 15 points and 12 rebounds for her 12th game with at least 10 in each category. She also had six steals. Allisha Gray added 15 points.

Smesko expressed dissatisfaction with the officiating after the game, saying there were too many calls and they would ask the league for an explanation. The Dream was whistled for 21 fouls. Golden State was called for 22.

“We're a really good team, and we don't get the kind of respect from officials that we deserve,” Smesko said. “If the same official misses six or seven calls, I want to know that something’s going to be done about it.”

Atlanta’s defense limited Golden State to 22.7% 3-point shooting. Golden State hit 15 of 32 3s (46.9%) on Wednesday.

“Overall the defense was really, really good for the vast majority of the game,” Smesko said. “Just offensively, we didn't have like multiple actions on any possession.”

The Dream built a 35-32 halftime lead with defense. It shot 33.3% but turned nine steals into 14 points.  Reese and Howard combined to go 1-of-14. The Dream scored just 27 points in the first half against the Valkyries in Wednesday’s game.

The Dream’s defense continued to spark its offense in the third quarter, which finished with it leading 55-51. Atlanta had three more steals. It also grabbed three more offensive rebounds that it turned into seven second-chance points. Its shooting remained off, hitting just 35.3% of its attempts.

The game was tied at 69 with 1:49 left.

Gabby Williams gave the Valkyries a four-point lead with back-to-back baskets. Howard hit two free throws to cut the Dream’s lead to two with 1:17 left.

Williams and Reese exchanged free throws to keep Atlanta within two with 26.4 seconds remaining. Williams hit another free throw to increase Atlanta’s deficit to three with 24.2 seconds remaining.

Canada missed a tough layup that Smesko described as well-defended, which resulted in the set becoming a broken play. Williams hit another free throw to give Golden State a 76-72 lead.

Atlanta will play again on Saturday at Seattle.

“We’ve got no time to feel bad about it,” Smesko said. “We have our sixth game in 10 days tomorrow.”