By Bob Phillips
UNCASVILLE—Allisha Gray had a career-high 27 points and 10 rebounds, Cheyenne Parker forced overtime with a last-second shot and the Atlanta Dream beat the Connecticut Sun 92-88 on Thursday night to snap a seven-game losing streak in the series.
The Sun were led by Brionna Jones who tallied a double-double with a season-high 28 points and 13 rebounds, along with one assist and two steals.
Atlanta outscored Connecticut, 15-11, heading into the first media timeout of the contest. Jones and Alyssa Thomas each notched four points in the opening minutes to lead the Sun. Connecticut finished the quarter on a 17-5 run to take an eight-point advantage into the second, 28-20. Jones tallied 11 points, three rebounds and one steal to lead the Sun after ten minutes.
The Dream opened the second quarter outscoring the Sun, 10-4, to cut the lead to two, 32-30, with 6:33 remaining in the half. The Sun finished the half on a 20-8 run to take their largest lead of the contest, 50-40, into the locker room at intermission. Jones tied her season-high in scoring in the first half alone with 21 points, along with seven rebounds, one assist and one steal to lead Connecticut at the break.
The Dream opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run to cut the Sun lead to one, 50-49, with 7:47 remaining in the quarter. The Sun were held scoreless until the 6:31 mark in the third quarter when Jones sank a mid-range jumper to make it 52-51. Each team notched 10 points the rest of the way, with the Sun taking a one-point lead into the fourth, 62-61.
After 10 lead changes in the fourth stanza, the Sun and the Dream were knotted at 80 points apiece, sending the contest into overtime. Thomas notched nine of her 23 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Sun.
Atlanta outscored Connecticut, 12-8, in the overtime period to hand Connecticut their second home loss of the season, 92-88. The Dream were led by Allisha Gray who tallied a career-high 27 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Connecticut shot 42.9 percent from the floor on 33-for-77 shooting, while Atlanta shot 51.4% (36-for-70) from the field. The Sun outscored the Dream in the paint (52-48), on second chance opportunities (17-12) and on the fast break (21-2).
The Sun now travel to Los Angeles where they will take on the Los Angeles Sparks headed by former Sun head coach and GM Curt Miller on Sunday. Tip-off at Crypto.com Arena is at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT and the game will be televised on NBC Sports Boston and streamed on the NBC Sports app.
• With 23 points on the night, Alyssa Thomas eclipsed 3,000 points in her career (3,011). She also moved into fourth all-time in franchise history in scoring, passing Katie Douglas.
• With two three-point field goals in the game, DeWanna Bonner moved into 14th all-time in league history in made threes, tying Allie Quigley (510).
• With five assists on the night, former UConn star Tiffany Hayes now has 700 career assists.
• The Sun scored a season-high 50 points in the first half. However, they also tied a season-low with 12 points in the third quarter.
• Alyssa Thomas (23), Brionna Jones (28) and DeWanna Bonner (20) combined for 71 of the Sun’s 88 points.
Team Score Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT PTS REB AST
CON 88 28 22 12 18 8 Jones- 28 Jones- 13 Thomas- 7
ATL 92 20 20 21 19 12 Gray- 27 Gray- 10 Jones- 6
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