by E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor
The Atlanta Dream dropped its home contest against the Chicago Sky 79-75 at the McCamish Pavillion Friday evening.
The Dream (15-8) trailed the Sky (10-14) 61-47 heading into the fourth quarter after being outplayed during the first three quarters. However, Atlanta mounted a furious comeback and two free throws by Angel McCoughtry with 4:50 left in the game tied the score at 66-66. It was the first and only time that the Dream were level with the Sky in the entire contest.
Trailing 76-73 with 50 seconds left, the Dream had a chance to tie the contest again with a three-point shot attempt by Tiffany Hayes from the left side on a designed play but it missed. The Dream’s final chance to take the game into overtime came with six seconds left and trailing 78-75. Shoni Schimmel took an off-balance three-pointer by from the right side went wide and was rebounded by Chicago.
“That’s Shoni’s shot and everyone is confident on the team that she can hit that shot,” said Thompson on the Dream’s final possession.
Five Sky players scored in double figures led by Epiphanny Prince’s game-high 21 points along with seven assists. Sylvia Fowles grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds along with five steals while scoring 12 points in the victory.
Sancho Lyttle had a strong night for the Dream, leading the team in points (15) and rebounds (9) while and Hayes also had 15 points. Erika de Souza had eight points and eight rebounds for the Dream while guard Celine Dumerc scored 10 points off the bench.
McCoughtry struggled from the field the entire night, only making five out of 17 field goal attempts attempts and committing seven turnovers. She did grab a game-high six steals in the loss.
The Sky starting the game strong, outscoring the Dream 26-10 after the first quarter. Atlanta shot only 26.3 percent from the field in the first 10 minutes of the game while Chicago made 68.8 percent.
“Starting off tonight, we left our defense in the locker room,” said interim head coach Karleen Thompson. “We started off in a hole against a good team. I’m proud of the way they came back and fought a hard fight but we’re not happy with it.”
Both teams traded baskets throughout the second quarter with the Sky taking a 43-29 lead into halftime. Tamera had a game-high 10 points at the half for the Sky while center Fowles had a game-high six rebounds along with eight points for the road team. Chicago shot 63.3 percent from the field in the first half.
Aneika Henry had a team-high nine points for Atlanta at the half while McCoughtry had six points. The Dream struggled from the field, shooting only 41.9 from the floor while committing 15 turnovers.
“Chicago came out and played hard,” said Thompson. “They played good defense and caused turnovers. We have to come out and play 40 minutes of focused basketball.”
Atlanta returns to action on Sunday at Washington.
The Sports Inquirer 
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