Dream vs. Sun: Rhyne Howard's Season-High 36 Points and 8 Threes Power Atlanta Past Connecticut, 91-75

With a minute left in the third quarter, the Connecticut Sun, 2-8 coming in, led the Atlanta Dream 65-61. Then Angel Reese, of all people, drilled a three, the first of her Dream career.

Fourteen straight Atlanta points later it was 75-65, and the Dream were on their way to a 91-75 win on Tuesday night in College Park. Rhyne Howard finished with a season-high 36 points and eight threes, Allisha Gray added 26, and Atlanta now has four straight wins in the series with Connecticut.

Two Scorers, One Hoop

The first half was basically the Howard and Gray Show with a guest appearance from the free-throw line. Connecticut went 8 of 13 from the stripe in the first quarter and led 25-24 after one, even with Atlanta going 5 of 10 from distance, per the Sun's recap. Howard already had 11 points and three threes by then.

By halftime she had 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, Gray had 18 on 5 of 10, and between them they had scored 40 of Atlanta's 50. Everybody else on the roster had attempted eight shots. It was still just 50-49, because Connecticut closed the half on a tear. That was the front end of an 11-0 Sun run that started with 1:35 left in the second and spilled into the third, flipping a 50-44 deficit into a 55-50 lead. Aneesah Morrow finished off her double-double within the first 90 seconds of the second half, according to the Sun, and for a good while Connecticut looked like the team playing with more purpose.

The 3,575 at Gateway Center got 11 lead changes for their trouble, and neither team could get comfortable. The Sun still led by four with a minute to go in the third, and that's when the floor tilted.

Howard's Different Gear

Howard made 12 of 24 shots and 8 of 19 threes, and the Dream say those 19 attempts tied her career high. She added 4 of 5 at the line and three steals, then saved the loudest stuff for last. Her seventh three came at 3:28 of the fourth for an 80-69 lead. Her eighth banked in at 2:35 for an 83-71 lead, because at that point the rim was just doing whatever she asked. She followed that with a three-point play at 1:44.

"Rhy is locked in, she has a different level to her," coach Karl Smesko said. Howard's own explanation was more modest. "We were able to find easy looks," she said.

Gray tied her season high with 26 on 9-of-17 shooting, adding seven rebounds. Jordin Canada had 12 points, 10 assists and four steals. Reese's 12 points and 13 rebounds came with seven offensive boards and five assists, and she finished plus-23, the best mark on the floor. The Dream say that third-quarter three was also her 1,000th career point in the WNBA. "It was a momentum changer," Smesko said. "I thought the crowd loved it, team loved it, I loved it."

Morrow was terrific for Connecticut, with 20 points and 13 rebounds for her eighth double-double in 11 games, per the Sun, and she scored nine of the team's 10 points in the fourth. Saniya Rivers had 11 on 4-of-6 shooting, Leila Lacan had 11 with five assists on 4-of-13 shooting, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa scored 10 in 11 minutes. Brittney Griner, who got a tribute from the Dream during the game for her season in Atlanta last year, finished with seven points, four rebounds and three blocks.

Six Minutes of Nothing

The game flipped on that Reese three. Atlanta scored the last seven points of the third to take a 68-65 lead, then the first seven of the fourth to go up 10. Connecticut went scoreless for more than six minutes around the quarter break and didn't get a point in the fourth until Morrow's layup with 4:39 remaining. The Dream say the Sun missed their first eight shots of the period.

"I think our defense won us this game tonight," Gray said, which is a funny thing to hear from someone who just scored 26. She also had a point. A team that scored 65 through three quarters finished with 10 in the fourth, and Atlanta held Connecticut to just three offensive rebounds all night. Morrow got the Sun back within 75-69, and Howard's two late threes made sure that was the end of it.

Stats That Matter

• 14 of 37 vs. 4 of 17: Threes, a 30-point swing in a 16-point game.
• 62: Howard and Gray's combined points. Connecticut's top two scorers had 31.
• 23-10: Atlanta's fourth-quarter margin.
• 15-3: Atlanta's edge in second-chance points, per the Dream, on a 9-3 edge in offensive rebounds.
• 16-8: Atlanta in points off turnovers.

Where It Leaves Them

Atlanta is 6-2 and 3-1 at home with two straight wins, and this was the first game of its Commissioner's Cup schedule. "Good way to start the Commissioner's Cup," Smesko said. Next up is a road game at Indiana on Thursday.

Connecticut falls to 2-9 and 1-6 on the road. The Sun shot 47% from the field, same as Atlanta, and went 19 of 29 at the line, but four made threes against 14 is a problem no amount of free throws solves. They had just beaten Los Angeles 84-81 last time out, so at least there's no skid to report, and they play at Chicago on Friday. They'll want to bring the first three quarters with them and leave the fourth in Georgia.

Atlanta Loves a Duo

This city has a long, proud history with two-person acts that make everybody else sound like they're still rehearsing, and OutKast would recognize what happened on Tuesday: two voices, totally different styles, and nobody else getting much of the mic. "It feels nice when me and Rhy both connect and both have great games," Gray said. For the rest of the league, it feels like a scheduling problem.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Quotes and team notes from the Atlanta Dream and Connecticut Sun. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.