Uncasville, Conn. — Ron Terwilliger and his wife Fran sat outside the Atlanta Dream locker room.

The owner was summoned to the inner sanctum of the locker room after head coach Marynell Meadors spoke to the team. Terwilliger's job was to soothe the wounds from his team's rude 100-67 welcoming to the WNBA by the Connecticut Sun on Saturday.

"I just told them to keep on hustling," Terwilliger said. "Play hard. Play hard defense and it will come as this team plays together for awhile."

The Dream actually got off to a good start, opening a 15-8 lead before the reality of being an expansion team set in.

"I enjoyed the first five minutes," Terwilliger said.

But a raucous crowd of 7,420 fans got the Sun rolling. One day, Terwilliger envisions Philips Arena being a hotbed for the league and a loud and vibrant home-court advantage.

The players appreciated the kind words from the owner.

"It was the first time that a lot of us have met him," center Katie Feenstra said. "Hearing his words of wisdom and his encouragement was good. He still has confidence in us. It was good to see him and meet with him."

Said Meadors, "He loves this team and he hated to see them lose the opener like this. But he's very positive. He wants them to really hustle and do the things it takes to win."

The women's basketball-savvy crowd — the Sun has developed a following by building off the success of the University of Connecticut with four former Huskies on the roster — was polite early before turning on the league's newest team.

The Sun delivered a 32-8 run than stretched into the second quarter to open a 17-point lead. The lead ballooned to 34 points.

Barbara Turner, a former UConn star made two 3-pointers and then ran over two Dream defenders for another bucket. It looked like a charge, but it was called a foul on the Dream.

The physical tone was set by Turner's play.

"We did a good job starting the game," said guard Betty Lennox, who led the Dream with 19 points. "In the first half, I thought we played well. But it kind of slipped away from us and we lost focus."

The Dream did not start point guard Ivory Latta, the cover girl of the team's media guide. Kristin Haynie started at point guard.

"Haynie is the starter right now," Meadors said. "Haynie has more experience."

The Dream had some moments:

• Iziane Castro Marques had some strong finishes around the basket on her way to nine points.

• Former Georgia Tech star Chioma Nnamaka had a nice wrap-around pass to Camille Little that led to a layup.

• Trailing 72-51 late in the third quarter, Latta sank a 3-pointer and then stole the inbounds pass on a hustle play.

• Stacey Lovelace had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds.

But overall, they were pounded on the boards —53-29 — and did not match the aggressive tone that Turner and to lesser degrees Asjha Jones (18 points, six rebounds) and Tamika Whitmore (22 points, 10 rebounds) set for the Sun.

"Connecticut had us back on our heels and we just gave them everything," Lennox said. "They didn't have to work for anything."