By Troy Jenkins – AtlantaDream.net

The Atlanta Dream picked up their fourth straight victory after pulling away from the Indiana Fever for an 85-76 victory Sunday afternoon at Phillips Arena.

Here are a few notes from the Sunday’s game:

Late Push Gives Dream Fourth Straight Victory

• The Dream surrendered an 18-point lead in the game, but were able to outscore the Fever 22-13 over the last seven minutes of the contest.
• Angel McCoughtry scored 22 points to lead a total of four Dream players who finished in double-figures: Sancho Lyttle (12), Tiffany Hayes (13) and Layshia Clarendon (17).
• The victory snaps a four-game home losing streak against Indiana (previous victory: 9/4/2013).
• Coach Cooper’s Take: “They came back. That’s what they’re supposed to do. So what we did was refocus and we started rebounding. I think our bigs did a good job of controlling the paint and that’s how we were able to get the win”.
• Player’s Take: “It’s okay. They’re supposed to do that. It’s a game of runs and it happens. All we can do is maintain our composure like we’ve been doing and play our game”, said McCoughtry after the win.

 

Best Start Since 2013

Sunday’s victory over the Fever marks the Dream’s fourth win in a row, and the 5-1 start to open the year is the best since 2013 – when Atlanta posted a 10-1 run to open the season and went on to the WNBA Finals for the third time in franchise history.

 

Leading the East

With Sunday’s victory, the Atlanta Dream (5-1) already hold a two-game edge in the Eastern Conference in the early stages of the 2016 season. In the overall standings, the Dream have the third-best record in the league behind the Los Angeles Sparks (5-0) and the defending champion Minnesota Lynx (5-0).

 

Red Hot McCoughtry

Angel McCoughtry continued her hot streak with a game high 22 points in the victory over the the Fever. This is McCoughtry’s second-straight game with 20 or more points, and her third so far this season.

 

Sancho Lyttle Closing in on Milestone

Atlanta Dream Forward Sancho Lyttle entered Sunday’s game 22 points shy of 3,000 for her career. Lyttle’s 12 points against the Fever drops the magic number down to 10 to reach the 3,000-point milestone.

 

Legendary Farewell

Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings played her final game in Atlanta and finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.  Catchings also accomplished a career milestone by joining Tina Thompson as one of only two players in WNBA history to record 7,000 points. Catchings is the only player to be ranked top-10 in career points, rebounds, assist, steals and games played.   With her legendary career coming to an end, Catchings reflected on everything with happiness while still being focused on the task at hand. “I’ll miss getting on the bus to go to games and hanging out with teammates and things like that. But it’s kind of hard to put things like that in perspective when you’re so focused on the game and on winning”, said Catchings after the game.

 

Player(s) of the Game: Angel McCoughtry, Sancho Lyttle and Layshia Clarendon

McCoughtry scored a game high 22 points and also added six rebounds. Lyttle scored 12 points and added six rebounds. Clarendon finished with 17 points and five rebounds. All three players get the nod for Player of the Game thanks to their combined 22 points in the fourth quarter. These three were able to help right the ship and lead the Dream to victory.

 

Up Next

The Atlanta Dream will hit the road to face the Connecticut Sun this Friday in a 7 p.m. ET tip at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The Dream will then return to Philips Arena on Sunday, June 5 in a 3 p.m. ET start against the Washington Mystics that will begin a stretch of four consecutive games at home for Atlanta – its longest home stand of the season that will feature games against Minnesota (June 10), Connecticut (June 12) and Chicago (June 17).