Angel McCoughtry steers Atlanta Dream to a 100-74 victory over New York Liberty - WNBA Recap
On Friday night Atlanta Dream stepped inside the arena with one simple agenda, to win and win big. To accomplish the task at hand Atlanta unleashed their fury on New York Liberty.
Angel McCoughtry paved the way with 23 points and Dream ploughed their way through the game outhustling New York Liberty, 100-74 here at Philips Arena.
Dream never trailed in the game and remained aggressive from the start till the end. Angel McCoughtry, who had a game high 23 points to go with 7 assists and 5 boards, said that her team wants to take a lead early in the season
so that it would cushion them in the end.
"We're a running team,'' McCoughtry said. ``We're athletic. Once we get on a roll, I think we'll be unstoppable."
Lindsey Harding tallied 19 for Dream and centre Yelena Leuchanka chipped in with 10 points and 7 boards in Atlanta’s hi-octane victory.
Liberty never stood a chance in the game even though they had 5 players scoring in double-figures. Cappie Pondexter had 18 points but she couldn’t help her team from rolling down to a 4-game losing streak.
She was greatly exasperated at her performance.
“To be honest, tonight might have been one of the worst performances of my career, but I am staying positive,'' Pondexter said. ``I am upset inside and I need to do a personal assessment, but we have two days off to come back with
a new mindset.''
Essence Carson netted 15 and forward Plenette Pierson along with reserve Kia Vaughn shared 11 apiece. Kara Braxton had 10 points in New York’s 4th loss of this season.
Dream opened their account with an 8-2 run but Liberty rebutted with a 7-2 burst and narrowed the gap to 9-10 midway through the frame. The game remained close afterwards as with 2:58 in hand, Atlanta were having a fragile advantage
of 18-16. But, they shifted gears and raced away with a 10-2 run to conclude the segment at 28-18.
Dream kept on widening the gap in the 2nd frame and with 4:29 in hand they were enjoying a 36-25 lead. Liberty tried to harness the mammoth lead but they could only come as close as 48-33 by the end of 2nd
period.
New York tried to show resilience but the 15 points lead didn’t allow them to question Atlanta’s position. Dream cruised through the segment maintaining their double-digit lead, as midway into the frame they were up with 57-45.
They boosted their advantage with an 8-2 spurt and claimed a 65-47 advantage. Atlanta Kept on inflicting damage and concluded the period after grabbing an unquestionable 79-58 lead.
The mammoth lead took its toll on New York and they melted down, while Atlanta opened the decisive frame with a 10-2 run to enjoy 29 points, 89-60 margin. From there on it was a cruise for Dream.
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