The Atlanta Dream rookie tandem of Rhyne Howard and Kristy Wallace combined for 40 points, including a career-high mark of 18 points for Wallace, in an 84-76 victory Wednesday over the visiting Minnesota Lynx.
Minnesota’s Sylvia Fowles finished with 20 rebounds and 16 points. She came close to her career-high rebounding performance of 22 against the Connecticut Sun in 2017.
Atlanta reserve Aari McDonald had 13 points and seven steals, which is one shy of the franchise record set by Sancho Lyttle against the New York Liberty in 2016.
Wallace’s scoring production came on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
Howard finished with 22 points with four rebounds and three steals.
Erica Wheeler contributed 13 points and nine assists while Monique Billings had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Dream.
The Lynx were also led by Kayla McBride’s 20 points and Nikolina Milic with 14 points off the bench.
Atlanta has won two straight games after losing consecutive games against the Washington Mystics. The Lynx have lost four of its last five games.
The Dream held off Minnesota after taking a 15-point lead in the second quarter and leading 43-37 at halftime.
After Minnesota tied the game at 57 with 3:06 left in the third quarter, the Dream scored 10 unanswered points.
McDonald and Wallace each hit 3-pointers in the run. Wallace’s shot gave Atlanta a 67-57 lead with 1:19 remaining in the third quarter.
After McBride made two free throws to cut Atlanta’s lead to 73-69, Wheeler converted a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer with 3:43 remaining.
Fowles’ layup with 43.6 seconds left cut the lead to 82-76.
Wheeler missed two free throws with 38.2 seconds remaining but Minnesota could not capitalize, instead missing three field goal attempts. One was a 3-pointer by Evina Westbrook with 22.6 left after a jump ball.
Wheeler’s two free throws with 18.9 seconds left put the game out of reach.
Atlanta built its biggest lead, 40-25, with 4:26 left in the second quarter on a 12-2 run capped by Howard’s 3-pointer.
–Field Level Media