As Ivory Latta beamed at the fans, Betty Lennox yanked her teammate back into the huddle. There was no way she was going to let Latta miss this.

Blue and white streamers, which had been on reserve during this three-game homestand, finally exploded from the corner of Atlanta's bench.

TODD R. MCQUEEN / Special (ENLARGE)

Atlanta Dream players Tamera Young (from left), Betty Lennox, Katie Feenstra and Jennifer Lacy celebrate their first victory after an 0-17 start.

More photos Click here to see the celebration

So this is what it's like to win.

"I didn't really forget [what it's like to win], but the feeling was fading away," Lennox said. "Tonight it really felt like a championship. That's how exciting it was."

Yes, after 17 straight losses spread over 49 days, the Dream survived a 91-84 victory against the Chicago Sky (5-11) on Saturday night to notch the franchise's first win.

"We all said, 'Finally,' " coach Marynell Meadors said after emerging from the team's locker room. "There's big smiles. ... We've got the gorilla and the gorilla and the gorilla off our backs right now."

Ivory Latta and Jennifer Lacy led the team with 18 points each, but the victory really was a team effort as four other players tallied double figures in scoring.

Rookie Tamera Young, Atlanta's first draft pick, clinched the win by sinking two free throws to make the score 86-84 with 54.6 seconds remaining.

For the second game in a row, Atlanta's reserves pulled their team out of a deep hole.

After the starters fell behind 21-9 in the first quarter, Iziane Castro-Marques sparked her team to a comeback.

Castro-Marques drained a 3-pointer, stole the ball on the next possession and capped it with a layup in a span of 10 seconds.

The Dream fed off of the momentum shift with a 17-2 run, taking their first lead of the game at 7:23.

But Atlanta hit a lull in the third quarter and slacked off defensively, letting the Sky back into the game.

Chicago regained the lead 66-64 at the end of the third quarter, and the rest of the game played out like a table tennis match.

Soon the Dream sealed the game, and Meadors celebrated by blowing an airhorn on the sideline.

The win couldn't have come at a better time. The Dream head out on a six-game, 10-day road trip, and Meadors said the victory definitely provided much-needed confidence.

"I think it give us a boost. I think it pulls us together," Meadors said. "I saw a different team tonight."

Forward Kristen Mann wasn't able to be a part of the win. She was traded to the Indiana Fever on Friday for center Allison Bales, who played nearly 18 minutes Saturday night.

Mann did send a text message to one of the team's employees to congratulate her former teammates. She kept track of the game online.

The Dream plan to approach the season's second half as a new beginning.

"We're putting those 17 games that we lost behind us, and now hopefully we can come back and do 17-0," Lennox said. "I know that may be impossible, but that's the goal we're going to shoot for."