DeWanna Bonner had 20 points and nine rebounds and Alyssa Thomas added 15 points, 11 boards and eight assists to help the visiting Connecticut Sun stave off the Atlanta Dream 86-78 on Saturday afternoon in College Park, Ga.
The Sun opened an early 20-point advantage but watched it whittled to a single point, as the Dream went 30-for-37 from the free-throw line to make up for 30.4 percent shooting from the floor.
Connecticut (17-6) pulled together a 13-0 run spanning the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth to regain its cushion.
It was the fifth win in six games for the Sun, who defeated Atlanta 82-71 at home on Thursday. The Dream (12-10) have lost two straight after compiling a seven-game winning streak.
All five Sun starters finished in double digits. Natisha Hiedeman made five 3-pointers for her 15 points, Rebecca Allen scored 11 and Tiffany Hayes had 10.
Rhyne Howard scored 20 of her game-high 22 points in the second half to power the Dream. Cheyenne Parker and Allisha Gray each scored 17 points, and Aari McDonald had 14 off the bench.
Connecticut led 30-16 after a first quarter in which the Dream shot just 1-for-13 from the floor. The Sun’s eight fouls allowed the Dream to score 13 points at the foul line to stay in range.
Hiedeman’s 3-pointer gave the Sun their first 20-point lead at 40-20 with 7:29 before halftime. It was 45-25 when the Dream made their big push, scoring the final 13 points while the Sun missed their last eight shots of the half.
Parker had 13 points and Gray had 11 at halftime. They accounted for five of the Dream’s seven made field goals. Bonner led the Sun with 11 points.
Having found their shot, the Dream kept it up and sliced their deficit to 47-46 at the 7:29 mark of the third quarter on Nia Coffey’s driving layup. Howard hit a 3-pointer to make it 56-54 Connecticut with 3:20 left in the period, but that’s when Hiedeman answered with two 3-pointers 26 seconds apart to spark an 11-0 run to end the quarter.
Hiedeman was coming off a 6-for-7 3-point shooting performance against Atlanta Thursday.
Thomas’ driving layup in the first minute of the fourth quarter made it 69-54 Connecticut. The Sun controlled the final period until the Dream cut the margin to eight points on three occasions in the closing minutes.
–Field Level Media
