Angel McCoughtry stars as Atlanta Dream beat Tulsa Shock - WNBA Recap
On Friday night, Atlanta Dream rolled onto a 3 game winning streak after handing over a 102-92 defeat to Tulsa Shock. This was Dream’s highest tally of this season and they were led by Angel McCoughtry’s 24 points.
Dream had 5 players scoring in double figures. Angel had 24 points to go with 7 boards while Armintie Price posted 19 points to go with 7 rebounds. Tiffany Hayes collected 15 points coming off the bench and forward Aneika Henry chipped in with 14 points.
Dream were leading by a 24 points margin, 73-49, in the 3rd frame, when Tulsa pulled off a huge 29-12 run ( starting midway in the 3rd and finishing early in the 4th) narrowing the gap down to 85-78 early in the fourth quarter. However, the final push never came and Dream pulled away;
Atlanta head coach Marynell Meadors reflected on that and said that Tulsa is a resilient bunch but they came out well.
“We let up a little in the second half. When you get a big lead like that, it's hard to sustain it,'' said Atlanta head coach Marynell Meadors. ``Tulsa always gets our attention. They have a team filled with quick scorers and you can't ever relax against them.”
Tulsa were 42.1% while Atlanta went 39-for64 (60.9%) from the floor. Shock had 6 players hitting double index, led by Glory Johnson and Ivory Latta who both scored 16 apiece.
Riquna Williams collected 15 points coming off the bench while forward Kayla Pedersen netted 14 points and also had 8 boards. Temeka Johnson and Courtney Paris scored 12 and 10 points respectively in Shock’s 12th loss of this season.
Temeka opened the game for Shock with a deuce, but Dream replied with a 16-5 burst. With 2:07 in hand Shock managed to narrow the gap down to 21-15 but a 7-2 run provided Atlanta with a double-digit, 28-17, lead by the end of 1st period.
With 7:20 remaining in the second stanza, Dream had ballooned their advantage to 38-23. Tulsa trimmed that down to 38-30 using a 7-nothing burst, but a 9-4 response allowed Dream to widen the gap to 47-34.
Shock tried to reduce the gap but they could only come as close as 57-43 by the end of opening half. Midway into the third, Dream were enjoying a 73-49 lead but Tulsa reeled off a 17-8 run that helped them to tone down the lead to 81-66 by the end of 3rd period.
Shock used the impetus gained earlier in the third and opened the decisive frame on a 12-4 run, narrowing the gap to 85-78. Tulsa tried to eat away at the lead but their efforts remained fruitless and with 01:52 on clock Dream were still ahead by 95-89.
Atlanta hammered the last nail with a 7-1 spurt and claimed a 102-90 lead.
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