photo credit / by Bullets Forever
The last meeting of these two teams was back on May 24th in Washington. It was “The Elena Dell Donne Show”, as the star player for the Mystics took over. The reign continued for Washington as the Mystics command victory 92-74. Atlanta Dream are back on the court against the Mystics hoping to even the score in their reunion. Great news for the Dream as all of their starters are back off the injury list; Erica Wheeler, Kristy Wallace, and Kia Vaughn. Toward the middle of the 1st, Washington comes out the gates firing at Atlanta. Mystic’s guard Natasha Cloud comes out with back to back three’s bringing her team to a lead, 13-2. Turnovers were hurting the Dream in the 1st, they were finally able to score within 5:12 of the quarter. Though out the quarter, Atlanta found themselves always in “scrambling mode”. Natasha Cloud continued to control the momentum of the quarter for Washington ending the night with 18 points. The lead is 23-12, Mystic’s 3 point game continued to bury Atlanta shooting 7-10 from the field, the lead 44-29 in the 2nd with 2:45 left before halftime. Dream’s Asia Durr gets a sweet lefty shot to try and bring her team out of the slump. She was Atlanta’s lead scorer of the game with 13 points. Aari McDonald whose confidence has sky-rocketed this season for the Dream, contributed 9 points for the evening. Naz Hillmon always came through in the clutch moments of the game, she ended the night with 11 points for the Dream.
The Mystics were unstoppable and everything seem to go in for them. They capitalized on every possession. Mystic’s Myisha Hines- Allen closes out the half with a strong lay up and Washington leads 50-32. The Mystic’s shooting 58% from the floor and 67% from the arc (8-10). At the start of the 3rd, Atlanta’s game plan would tighten up and try to force Washington to take more 2-point baskets. They were unsuccessful at stopping the scoring drive. Natasha Cloud buried a another three from downtown. Mystics are in full speed with a 20 point lead and 2:52 left in the 3rd. Washington is under new head coaching system with rookie coach and WNBA legend Becky Hammon. Judging by the performance on this evening, it’s looking like a match made in heaven! Dreams, Howard still struggling from the field averaging 2-13 and scoring 5 points for the night. The Atlanta Dream runs out of time to make adjustments. Mystics command victory 92-74. Dream’s next game will be against the New York Liberty, Thursday – June 30 at 7 pm.