Angel McCoughtry pounds career-high 37 points as Atlanta Dream beat Tulsa Shock, 76-68 – WNBA Recap
Angel McCoughtry erupted with a career-high 37 points to pace the resurgent Atlanta Dream to a 76-68 win over the WNBA-worse Tulsa Shock on Tuesday night at BOK Center. It was the fourth consecutive victory of Dream, who are now
just one game behind Chicago Sky for the fourth position in the Eastern Conference. On the other hand, it was tenth straight defeat of Tulsa.
McCoughtry scored 20 of her points in the first half of the game. The player also contributed four rebounds, three steals and two blocks for Atlanta. The 24-year-old forward shot 11 for 22 from the field and 15 for 19 from free
throw line. She scored four of her points with around three minutes to go in the fourth quarter when Tulsa managed to cut the deficit to just three points.
"Every win is big in this league for everybody," McCoughtry said. "It's not like college where there are set teams you know will always win. For us, this game gave us a little more confidence. The chemistry is coming."
Coco Miller came off the bench as a second leading scorer in Atlanta’s second straight road victory with 12 points on a 6 for 11 shooting from the floor.
Rookie centre Liz Cambage led Tulsa with 16 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Cambage pinned 8 of 10 free throws in the loss. Sheryl Swoopes had 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals for Shock. Tiffany Jackson
recorded her third consecutive double-double in the losing effort. Jackson recorded a career-high 17 rebounds on the glass, scored 11 points and finished three assists short of a triple double.
Shock’s interim coach Teresa Edwards said of Jackson, "She is the one player I can count on to leave everything on the floor. She plays hard all the time. She has been playing like an All-Star all season. She's getting it done
in practice and brings it to the game."
Atlanta shot 43.5 percent from the field, including 50 percent from three-point range, and limited Tulsa to 35.4 percent. Dream pulled down 14 rebounds as compared to just seven by the hosts.
Atlanta limited Tulsa to just 16 points in the first half of the game, taking a 15-point lead, 41-26, into the locker room. Dream stretched their lead to 18 points, 58-40, with 01:30 left in the third quarter. However, Tulsa scored
four straight points in the last minute of the third period to cut the margin to 14, heading into the last quarter.
Tulsa made a terrific comeback in the final period and drew to within three points at 66-63 with 03:42 remaining in the game. McCoughtry however responded with four consecutive free throws to put it out of reach of the hosts.
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