Led by Rhyne Howard’s historic night, the Dream scored early and often on Friday, handing the Sparks their second straight loss in the process, 104-85.
Dearica Hamby had a big night for LA, carrying the Sparks’ offense at times while totaling 26 points on 11-15 shooting with seven rebounds and five assists. Kelsey Plum had 20 points on 6-15 shooting. Rickea Jackson was an efficient 6-9 from the field and 4-4 at the line to finish with 17 points.
On the other side, Rhyne Howard tied the league record
for 3-pointers with nine, a record she already shared coming into the night. She finished with 37 points in the contest. As a team, Atlanta shot 19-39 from the 3-point line, tying the league record for threes in a game and far outpacing the Sparks, who shot just 6-22 from range.
Plum and Hamby helped the Sparks to a lead early as they combined for six of the first eight points of the game. Rhyne Howard immediately overturned that with three straight 3-pointers for the Dream, pushing them ahead 11-6.
While Hamby tried to keep the Sparks close with an and-one to make it a 19-17 Dream lead, Atlanta used a 12-5 run to open up a nearly double-digit lead. Jackson’s late jumper helped close the gap but the Sparks went into the second trailing by seven.
After an early back-and-forth in the second that included Alissa Pili minutes, a 7-0 run for the Dream made it a 41-28 lead for Atlanta and forced an LA timeout, a virtual carbon copy of the second quarter two nights prior between the two teams.
The Sparks did respond with a 7-0 run that included a Plum three and baskets from Hamby and Jackson to make it a five-point game, but Howard scored five straight of her own to make it a double-digit lead again.
It was all Howard in the first half, who continued her dominance with her seventh 3-pointer of the half followed by a layup, giving her 29 first-half points. Impressively, though, a Plum 3-pointer and a layup by Hamby just before the halftime buzzer kept the Sparks close as they trailed just 56-52 at the break.
The Sparks continued on in the third and tied the game by scoring six of the first eight points. The teams continued trading baskets with Hamby adding to her big night during that span, leaving the two sides teid at 64-64 at the midway point of the period.
Atlanta then used a 13-0 run from that point, which featured eight points from Maya Caldwell and Howard’s eighth 3-pointer, to make it a double-digit game once more. Howard’s ninth 3-pointer, tying the league record, late in the third quarter helped them maintain that advantage heading into the fourth at 85-72.
The Sparks really started to lose grasp of the rope in the fourth as the offense became more of a struggle. An Allemand 3-pointer midway through the period made it a 92-77 game, but Caldwell responded with another long-range effort of her own.
LA looked out of ideas and out of gas throughout the fourth as Atlanta pulled away and won comfortably.
