Four Players in Double Digits in Dream's Loss to Wings
Double-digit performances from Betnijah Laney, Elizabeth Williams, Chennedy Carter, and Courtney Williams wasn’t enough to help the Atlanta Dream (2-5) hold off the Dallas Wings (3-4) in an 85-75 loss on Saturday afternoon.
“We just have to come ready to play,” said Elizabeth Williams. “I don’t know what the reason was, but I feel like we just weren’t ready to play today. Whether it was transition defense or communicating early and often, we didn’t do enough things right. In this league other teams will take advantage of that.”
The first half went back and forth between the two teams, with two- and three-point jumpers going in on both ends of the court. Dallas had the edge going into the second quarter, but halfway through Elizabeth Williams made a layup to give Atlanta their first lead of the game. Atlanta carried a small 42-41 lead going into intermission.
Immediately after the break, Dallas exuded more energy than Atlanta –– thanks in large part to Arike Ogunbowale’s 14 points in the second half. Ogunbowale’s three-pointer to extend Dallas’ lead to 51-47, was the spark that gave the Wings the lead until the end.
Atlanta began to slowly creep back up in the fourth quarter when forward Glory Johnson’s three-pointer cut the deficit to five. However, Ogunbowale’s offensive prowess in crunch time proved too hard to overcome for Atlanta.
Laney led the Dream in scoring with 16 points. Elizabeth Williams added 15 points and six rebounds while Carter and Courtney Williams had 14 apiece.
This is Atlanta’s fourth matchup in less than seven days. Players aren’t given as much rest, recovery or practice time like in a more conventional WNBA season. Teams play games every other day, so fatigue can have a heavy influence on a team’s performance.
“I mean it’s tough having quick turnarounds, still trying to build that team chemistry, and also trying to get back to my game,” said Courtney Williams. “It’s hard right now. We just gotta figure it out. We don’t really have a choice.”
Atlanta isn’t the only team dealing with tired legs, but it’s seemingly having an alarming effect on their performance as this is their fourth straight loss this season.
“There just aren’t any excuses here because everybody’s got the same issues,” said head coach Nicki Collen. “I thought we came out flat. I don’t think we came out with a ton of energy. That might be my fault. We probably can’t take days off. That’s the tough part about this. You try to do your best to load manage, and we did full recovery, thinking that this was a quick turnaround at a noon tipoff, but we probably should have been in the gym. We’re too new. We’re too young. That’s on me.”
The Dream have one day of recovery before they return to the court on Monday night at 6 p.m. to face the Connecticut Sun.