The Dream made sure to make the end of the season interesting as they closed out the year on the West Coast. They kicked off the trip on Friday by shocking the league with one of the biggest upsets of the year, an 83-72 win over the Los Angeles Sparks in the Staples Center.
“I feel pretty awesome about this game,” said head coach Marynell Meadors. “I thought our players scrapped hard and played good defense.”
The Dream played one of their best halves of the season to open up the game, and led 42-37 at the break. The Sparks made a run in the third quarter taking the lead with 1:37 to go and led 59-57 with one quarter to play.
Things looked bleak early in the fourth as the Sparks quickly pushed their lead to 63-57 on a lay-up from Sidney Spencer. But the Dream stormed back to tie the game, and then Izzy Castro-Marques took over. The forward scored 13 of the Dream’s final 19 points, and some key defensive stops helped them pull away late and notch the win.
“I think we played really well,” Marques said. “We had better moments and controlled the game better than they did. We deserved the win.”
Atlanta was close to finishing the season with back-to-back wins in Seattle the following night, but they faltered late in a 77-72 defeat.
“We weren’t coordinated on the court,” Meadors said. “It looked like we were so off. We were not clicking.”
Rookie Tamera Young was the bright spot for Atlanta, dropping 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor. Lennox left the game after playing just 11:29 with an Achilles injury, although the injury was not serious.
SEASON REVIEW
The Dream had their struggles in their inaugural season. They finished the year at 4-30, making them the first team in WNBA history to lose 30 games.
“It’s been very tough [this season],” Lennox said, “especially [after] coming from a winning program.” (Lennox reached the playoffs four times in Seattle from 2004-07, which included a 2004 WNBA championship.)
But despite the frustrations, there were still some positives.
“We were inexperienced and now we’re experienced,” Lennox said. “We’ve been in every game so that’s something we can look forward to for next season.”
The Dream now turn their attention to the offseason. Many players will head overseas to play in Europe, such as Ivory Latta who is headed to Turkey. Meanwhile, Meadors’s work will continue, as she doubles as the team’s general manager. She is looking forward to it.
“We knew that expansion is expansion, any way you look at it,” Meadors said. “The way for us to get better is through trades and draft picks.”
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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