The race for the playoffs is on, and the Atlanta Dream gained a leg up in that battle, regaining their composure after a torrid first half in a 80-75 win over the visiting Detroit Shock.
“It’s a very good win for us,” said center Erika DeSouza, “but we have to keep playing hard, and keep winning to get to the playoffs.”
Leading by two late in the game, Sancho Lyttle’s all-important offensive rebound with 4.5 seconds remaining forced the Shock to intentionally foul her, and lead to a technical foul on a frustrated Shock Head Coach Rick Mahorn. Lyttle calmly sank both from the charity stripe after Chamique Holdsclaw converted on the technical free throw, giving Atlanta an 80-75 lead with 4.5 seconds left to finally put a pesky Detroit side away.
“We just weren’t going to be denied,” said Head Coach Marynell Meadors, “We got that lead and we just played the last minute-and-a-half really well.”
The Dream’s rattled off seven straight points late in the fourth and appeared to have the game well in hand after an Iziane Castro Marques trey made it 75-69 with 1:56 left. But the Shock responded quickly to pull within 75-73 with just under a minute remaining, and Deanna Nolan kept them within two points with a nice drive and lay-in with 41 seconds to go.
“The score was back-and-forth,” said Meadors, “But that is what happens when you play a team like Detroit.”
Another three Castro Marques broke a 65-65 tie with less than five minutes to play. But the Shock again recovered behind a quick 4-0 spurt, getting a breakaway lay-in from Kara Braxton to regain the lead at 69-68 with 4:11 to play.
Katie Smith kept Detroit in the game early in the fourth, nullifying an Angel McCoughtry layup by drilling a wide open three-pointer to give the Shock a 62-60 lead. Not to be outdone, the rookie matched the 10-year veteran with a trey of her own to put Atlanta back on top.
It was Smith who kept Detroit going early in the fourth, and she scored five quick points right off the bat in the final quarter to give the Shock an early 57-56 lead.
Atlanta established momentum in the third, as they drastically improved their play after a nightmarish opening 20 minutes. Castro Marques gave Atlanta their first lead since early in the first quarter, receiving a pass on the break from Shalee Lehning and converting on a layup to make it 45-44.
As Atlanta slowly played themselves back into the game, Detroit appeared to be headed in the opposite direction. A barrage of fouls put them over the limit less than halfway through the third quarter, and the home team made them pay, shooting 14 free throws over the third. Two of those freebies from Marques stretched the lead to 54-47 midway through the quarter.
Meanwhile, Erika DeSouza controlled the game in the paint, having already notched her seventh double-double of the season before the fourth quarter even began.
It was a very different story in the first half. But Atlanta managed to stay afloat in one of the ugliest halves of theyear. The two sides would combine for 18 turnovers during the opening two periods, while the Dream missed seven free throws and also found themselves stuck on 19 points for over two minutes of play in the second quarter.
The Shock started to pull away towards the end of the half as sharpshooter Deanna Nolan began to heat up, and Taj McWilliam’s jumper gave Detroit their largest lead of the night at 33-25.
Atlanta closed the half strong. Perhaps spurred on by a technical foul on Head Coach Meadors, they went into the break on the heels of a 7-0, capping it off with a layup for Lehning pull them within 35-32 at the half.
That meant Atlanta trailed by only three after missing missed countless shots under the basket en route to a 12-35 shooting performance in the half.
“We must have missed ten layups tonight,” said Meadors, “That’s not like us.
DeSouza paced the Dream with 15 points and 11 boards, and Sancho Lyttle joined her with a double-double of her own behind ten points and 12 rebounds. Chamique Holdsclaw finished with 14, while Castro Marques and McCoughtry also finished in double-figures.
Nolan lead the Shock with 20 points, but was just 7-25 from the floor and 0-6 from behind the arc. Smith was hot for much of the evening, scoring 17 and hitting all three of her shots from beyond the arc, but was in foul trouble all evening and fouled out late in the game.
The win upped Atlanta’s record to 12-11 on the season, pushing them ahead of Washington into the third spot in the east. They’ll face a stiff test when 13-9 Seattle roll into town on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip.
The loss dropped Detroit to 9-12 on the year, ending their two-game winning streak.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
