Connecticut Sun last quarter miseries continue as Atlanta Dream knock them out 69-64 – WNBA Recap
On Sunday night, the reigning Eastern Conference Champions Atlanta Dream pulled off yet another fourth quarter spurt to shock Connecticut Sun and by doing so they qualified for the Eastern Conference Finals.
The game followed the same script that it followed two nights ago. Down by seven by the end of the third quarter, Dream picked up the tempo in the last quarter and launched a procession of layups, jumpers and three’s to carve out a 69-64 win.
This is the beauty of this game. You are always in the game until it’s finished and Atlanta Dream proved it.
Atlanta dream’s coach Marynell Meadors who seemed little worried about his team’s slow start on Friday despite the win was pretty pleased with his team’s performance after tonight’s game.
“We were down very down but it didn’t bother us much, I’ll tell you what: get us to the fourth quarter and we are pretty good. It was all about out sturdy defense and wasn’t anything coaches were saying” Meadors said.
Atlanta struggled through most part of the game with their main player Angel McCoughtry being held scoreless in the first half kudos to Connecticut sun’s strategy of hounding her. But, when it mattered the most, she picked up her game and ended with 12 crucial points.
Connecticut sun’s Tina Charles was pivotal in giving her team 53-44 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but her effort went in vain and Atlanta Dream outscored their opponents 25-11 in the rest of the game to clinch the series.
Atlanta Dream have now won nine of their last ten matches since August 21. Asjha Jones who finished the night on 15 points said after the game.
“They are very tough from inside; they have players who are very good at blocking and players who can shoot jumpers so that makes matching up a little difficult”
Tina Charles also scored 13 points along with 17 rebounds for Sun, which got 10 points from Renee Montgomery. Tina Charles was not given any easy chances on the night and this was what made the difference on the night.
“Tina is a great player and you can't take anything away from her skill set. She's developed a wide range of shots. If you help off of her, she's going to knock down the shot" said coach Meadors after the game.
Atlanta dream’s Angel McCoughtry, Erika De Souza, and Sancho Lyttle all finished with 12 points each along with 10 and 9 rebounds from DeSouza and McCoughtry respectively.
Dream took seven out of last eight rebounds from Sun after achieving the lead which also played an important part in Connecticut’s defeat. It was a good match nevertheless and Connecticut would feel hard done by because they did not play bad either. However, they will need to work on and improve their finishing in future.
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