Allisha Gray scored a game-high 21 points and the Atlanta Dream outscored the host Chicago Sky 23-10 in the fourth quarter to win 82-68 Friday night.
Atlanta (9-8) has won four consecutive games while Chicago (8-10) had its three-game winning streak snapped.
The teams will play again Sunday, also in Chicago.
The Sky are 1-1 with Emre Vatansever as the interim head coach after taking over for James Wade, who was hired as an assistant with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.
Chicago forward Ruthy Hebard, who gave birth to son Xzavier less than three months ago, was cleared this week to return to action but did not play.
Rhyne Howard scored 17 points for the Dream. Cheyenne Parker added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Danielle Robinson collected 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Chicago’s Kahleah Copper had 16 points, Marina Mabrey finished with 14 and Elizabeth Williams 11.
Gray scored 15 points in the first half, when Atlanta led by as many as 12 points.
An 11-0 run gave the Dream a 32-20 lead with 6:24 left in the first half.
Chicago scored 12 unanswered points to tie the game at 34 with 3:29 left before halftime.
Neither team led by more than five points in the third quarter after Atlanta led 42-41 at halftime.
Atlanta led 59-58 going into the fourth quarter after Gray made a free throw with 18.4 seconds left in the third quarter. The free throw followed a technical foul on Chicago’s Dana Evans for arguing with a referee after a foul was not called when she was stripped of the ball going to the basket.
Atlanta scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to take a 72-58 lead with 7:01 left.
The run started with consecutive 3-pointers made by Gray and Howard, followed by a 3-point play by Naz Hillmon and another trey by Howard.
Chicago finally scored on a free throw by Courtney Williams with 6:46 left to cut the lead to 72-59.
The Sky did not make a field goal in the fourth quarter until 3:44 remained on a jumper by Copper, cutting the lead to 76-63.
–Field Level Media
