Hayes
surpassed her point total for the first four games of the season,
scoring 20 to lead five starters in double figures in the Dream’s 90-79
victory at Philips Arena.
Atlanta
(3-2) had lost two consecutive games coming into the night, but the
defending Eastern Conference champions didn’t trail over the final five
minutes to hand Seattle its fifth loss in six games to open the 2014
campaign.
“Tiffany is a defensive player (but) she was big for us (on the offensive end),” said Cooper.
The
game was tied at 61-61 with a little over six minutes to go in the
fourth when Atlanta made its decisive run. It started with two free
throws and a field goal by Erika de Souza (14 points), part of an
eight-point final period for the center from Brazil.
Crystal
Langhorne led all scorers with 21 points, but the Seattle forward’s 1
of 2 trip to the line, which got the Storm as close as they would be the
rest of the way at 65-62 at the 4:17 mark, was her first points since
5:39 remained in the third quarter. Angel McCoughtry, who had 12 of her
18 points and five of her eight assists in the second half, assisted on a
basket by Sancho Lyttle (13 points) and McCoughtry’s pull-up jumper got
the Dream going on a 15-7, game-ending run.
Seattle
equaled its largest lead at 48-41 on a steal and lay up from Tanisha
Wright with 5:15 to play in the third, and after Nicole Powell’s
3-pointer still held a 51-45 cushion. The Dream followed with a 12-0
spurt as McCoughtry scored five points and assisted on Lyttle’s
run-capping basket that made it a 57-51 game with a minute to go in the
period.
“Great teams have these 12-0 runs, and it happened to us in the third quarter,” said Cooper.
Seattle stayed close and Noelle Quinn’s 3 of 4 trip to the free-throw line evened things at 61-61 at the 6:20 mark.
Langhorne
and Temeka Johnson carried the Storm in the opening half, helping the
visitors take a 36-35 lead into the halftime locker room.
Langhorne,
a sixth-year forward out of Maryland, picked up two quick field goals
over a 35-second stretch, including a lay up off a pass from Johnson,
and Seattle led 36-33. McCoughtry, the Dream’s leading scorer who was
second in the WNBA in the category coming into the night, struggled in a
3 of 9 shooting, six-point first half, but her short jumper as time
expired pulled the Dream to within one point at the break.
Late
in the first, Lyttle and McCoughtry teamed up on three consecutive
baskets with McCoughtry assisting on two Lyttle buckets and Lyttle
returning the favor on a McCoughtry lay up. That was part of a 10-3
Dream run that put the hosts ahead 20-14 with 1:22 left.
It
was a tight second quarter with the largest advantage coming at the
2:51 mark when Johnson, who was the only other Seattle player in double
figures with 13 points, hit a jumper and the Storm led 27-23.
An
8-1 Atlanta run, aided by half of Hayes’ 12 first-half points, put the
Dream up 31-28 with just under three minutes left until halftime.
Langhorne’s
previous season-best was a 15-point effort May 23 against Connecticut.
For Atlanta, Jasmine Thomas chipped in with 11 points.
No comments:
Post a Comment