Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray help Dream rip through Sun

Field Level Media

Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray each had 29 points as the Atlanta Dream overwhelmed the Connecticut Sun 104-69 Thursday night in Uncasville, Conn.

It’s the biggest margin of victory for the Dream this season.

Atlanta (21-12) has now won eight of its last 10 games and is now tied with Indiana in fourth place in the WNBA standings. Atlanta hosts Indiana Sunday. Connecticut (8-24) has lost six of its last seven games.

Dream star Angel Reese broke the Dream franchise record for rebounds in a single season (now 384) and finished with eight points and 15 rebounds.

Connecticut was led by Aaliyah Edwards, who had 15 points off the bench. Fellow reserve Gianna Kneepkens added 10.

The Sun kept things close early by going to Brittney Griner inside. Griner also sank her first 3-pointer of the season to give the Sun an early lead.

But then Howard got hot. She made three long threes in the first quarter, finishing with 15 points in the stanza as the Dream led 28-17 after one.

In the second quarter, the Atlanta lead grew and so did the physicality. Reese was fouled hard from behind by Edwards after grabbing a rebound and Edwards was called for a flagrant-1 foul with 3:05 left in the half.

About two minutes later, Griner was called for a foul away from the ball on Howard, which the Sun bench didn’t like. On the ensuing inbounds play, Sun guard Leila Lacan ran into a hard screen set by Naz Hillmon and went down. Hillmon then sank an open three.

Griner was whistled for a technical foul as was Sun coach Rachid Meziane, who felt the screen by Hillmon warranted a foul.

At halftime, the Dream led 51-32 and they poured it on in the third quarter. Howard sank her fifth three to push the lead to 66-36 with 6:10 left and Gray added a nice three-point play after a drive to the basket to make it 75-41.

The lead grew to as many as 37 points in the fourth.

All the  news wasn’t good for the Dream. Backup forward Brionna Jones played less than five minutes before landing awkwardly from a rebound attempt early in the second quarter. She was ruled out for the rest of the game with a left leg injury. Jones missed a big chunk of the season after tearing the meniscus in her right knee. 

It’s the eighth time this season the Dream have scored more than 100 points.