Atlanta Dream draw first blood in the season; Secure a 79-58 win over New York Liberty – WNBA Recap
After losing the first three games of the season, the Eastern Conference champions Atlanta Dream finally earned their first win of the season as they knocked down the New York Liberty 79-58 on Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
Atlanta reeled off three huge runs in the game and played a solid game on the D as they limited New York to its lowest scoring night in the season so far. After averaging 85 points in their first three games of this season, Liberty
were reduced to a meagre 58 point shooting on the night.
Atlanta were pumped up early as All-Star Angel McCoughtry rejoined the line-up after missing the season’s first three games because of a left knee injury. The 24-year-old made her presence felt immediately and led Atlanta with
18 points, scoring 16 of them in the first two quarters of the game. In addition to a team-high spurt, the mercurial forward went 6-for-11 from the field and 5-for-5 from free throw line in less than 19 minutes.
McCoughtry said after the game, "It feels so good right now." "This is what we need. I feel we got our losing streak out of the way early. ... So now we can go on our winning streak."
Forward Erika de Souza had 12 points and five rebounds, shooting 6-for-10 from the field, while Sancho Lyttle ended with 10 points and six rebounds for Dream. Sandora Irvin also came off the bench with 10 points and grabbed seven
boards for the Atlanta outfit.
Essence Carson scored a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds while centre Kia Vaughn punctuated 16 points and seven rebounds for the Liberty, who were swept by Atlanta in the Conference Finals last year.
Both team played a very close game early in the first quarter and the scores were tied at 16 with 03:45 to go in the quarter. Atlanta however scored seven straight points the passage that followed, taking a 23-16 lead into the
second frame.
Liberty responded with a 6-2 run early in the second quarter to cut the deficit to three but Dream quashed their surge with a 12-5 run, stretching the lead to 35-27 with 03:39 remaining in the second. Plenette Pierson’s free throw
and Sydney Colson’s layup in the next minute trimmed the margin to 35-30, however, Atlanta sparked the show with another 9-2 spurt and took a 44-32 advantage at halftime.
Leading by 12 points at the end of first half, Dream maintained its double digit lead throughout the second half of the game and New York got no closer than 12 points.
Dream coach Marynell Meadors praised the combined team effort by her players and said, "Our bench really played well, and they scored well and they rebounded well and they played extended minutes.” "That was a key. Our starters
got us off to a good start and we were able to sub because of the score."
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