Welcome to the second half of the WNBA season, Atlanta Dream fans. If Thursday night was any indication of what lies ahead, it’s going to be a great ride. Atlanta rode the strength of a simply dominant first half performance en route to a 106-76 dismantling of the Western Conference-leading Phoenix Mercury at Philips Arena Thursday evening.
“I looked at one of my staff and said I don’t know how to coach being up by so many points,” said head coach Marynell Meadors. “I have always coached in close games in the WNBA.”
In a first quarter of spurts, Atlanta knocked the visitors back on their heels immediately, jumping out to a 15-0 lead out of the gates as the typically high octane Mercury offense missed its first 11 shots. Chamique Holdsclaw came out firing, hitting three of her first four shots during the stretch.
“We set the pace and we set the tone,” said Meadors. “And that’s what our intentions were.”
Phoenix would put up its only true resistance of the evening afterwards, going on an 11-0 spurt to close within four. But the lead would balloon once again soon after, as Atlanta responded with a 11-0 run of their own to take a 26-11 lead after one.
The slaughter continued in the second stanza as Ivory Latta and Angel McCoughtry made their presence felt off the bench. The Dream pushed the lead to 40-15 on a four-point-play from Latta, and saw their lead reach 30 when McCoughtry nailed a three-pointer and then converted on a beautiful reverse layup soon after. Latta finished the half with 12 points, five boards, and three assists. McCoughtry checked in with 11 points and three dimes of her own.
“Ivory has her thing, I just try to come in and get into it, too,” McCoughtry said. “It helps. It’s like a chain reaction.”
Meanwhile, the Dream were firing on all cylinders. The team shot 56 percent from the floor, and dominated on the boards behind Erika De Souza, Sancho Lyttle and Michelle Snow, who all finished with six boards in the half.
The team also shot 50 percent from behind the arc, and Iziane Castro-Marques hit a contested trey with two seconds left in the half to add to Phoenix’s misery and give Atlanta a seemingly insurmountable 59-29 lead at the break.
As for Phoenix, it went into the locker room after a disastrous half where it shot 11-of-35 from the floor, was outscored 28-10 in the paint, and turned the ball over 12 times, resulting in 18 Atlanta points.
“A lot of times when you have teams that score at will like Phoenix can, you have a tendency to get back on your heels defensively,” Meadors said. “I told them [the team] on Monday, we’re going right after them and making them defend us.”
Marques made sure there would be no miracle for the Mercury, hitting a trio of shots from 3-point-land to leave no doubt. The lead would reach as much as 45 during the third quarter. Atlanta led 90-51 after three.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Dream could enjoy what was surely their finest win in franchise history. Five Atlanta players finished in double-figures. McCoughtry paced the balanced attack with 17, while Marques and Latta chipped in with 16 apiece respectively. Michelle Snow also led the charge off the pine with 13 points and nine boards. De Souza finished with 14 rebounds and nine points.
“We’re jelling now, I think we’ve learned each other and know how each other plays,” McCoughtry said.
Tangela Smith led Phoenix with 15 points.
On the injury front, Coco Miller went down with an elbow to the head in the first quarter. But appeared to be fine when she returned to action in the fourth.
The Dream moved to 9-10 on the season with the win, and will return to the court on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip against the New York Liberty at Philips. The Mercury’s record fell to 14-6; they play next on Saturday in Minnesota.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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