It took Rhyne Howard beyond the first 20 minutes of the game to find her rhythm.
But when the Atlanta Dream’s two-time All-Star found her groove, she was relentless.
Howard exploded for 17 of her season-high 36 points, including five of her career-high nine 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, to push the Dream to a 88-70 victory Friday against the Chicago Sky (2-7) inside Gateway Center Arena.
With the win, the Dream (7-3) earned their second Commissioner’s Cup victory in commanding fashion behind Howard’s electrifying second-half performance.
“She (Howard) just got it going and kept it going,” Dream coach Karl Smesko said after Friday’s win.
Howard’s nine 3s broke the Dream’s mark for the most 3-pointers in a game that was previously set by Renee Montgomery in 2018.
The 25-year-old also tallied eight rebounds and four assists, moving into fourth place on the Dream’s all-time list for assists and surpassing Layshia Clarendon.
Four other Dream players finished in double figures.
Allisha Gray finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, followed by Brionna Jones with her sixth double-double outing of the season — 13 points and 11 rebounds — while Jordin Canada put together 12 points and eight assists in the victory.
As a team, the Dream went 12-of-37 from beyond the arc after going 3-of-20 from deep in the first half.
“Usually that’s when people will tell you to stop shooting them,” Smesko said. “Unfortunately, it took us a while to get going offensively. But then once we did, and the energy started building up, everybody started to play a little bit better on both ends.”
Brittney Griner, who was honored before the game with her ring for helping Team USA win a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics, failed to hit double digits in points and rebounds.
However, the 10-time All-Star made history in Friday’s contest, passing Lisa Leslie for the second place on the WNBA’s all-time blocks list.
Howard led the Dream in their offensive assault, hitting back-to-back 3s to put the Dream up 66-56 within the first two minutes of the fourth quarter.
From there, the Dream seized control and never looked back as Howard went off for 17, along with late buckets from Jones and Gray to run away with the 18-point victory.
The Dream entered the second half on a mission to find their rhythm on offense. Canada and Howard notched three of the team’s four third-quarter 3s to give the Dream a 47-45 lead.
However, the Sky would not go away. Chicago continued its dominance in the paint with scoring and free throws from Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso to keep the game close as the Sky trailed the Dream 58-54, entering the fourth quarter.
Dream finished the first half shooting 36% from the floor while the Sky shot 52% from the floor, 50% (4-of-8) from deep and notched 12 assists on 16 made field goals.
Within the first four minutes of the second, the Sky responded and outscored the Dream 13-8, an advantage that was accented by two deep threes from Rachel Banham to give Chicago its first lead of the contest, 25-23.
From there, the Sky led by as many as 8 points after Reese finished on a layup with 3:45 to play.
However, after the two teams exchanged possessions, the Dream managed to cut the Sky’s deficit to 5 points before Howard and Gray’s pullup jumper in the final seconds of the quarter brought the Dream within 1, 39-38, at halftime.
Despite trailing after the first half, Howard said the team never panicked in the moment.
“We have so much experience and we have so much faith in each other that we’re going to come back and regroup and get ourselves back together,” Howard said.
The Dream jumped out to an early 8-5 lead in the first quarter. Chicago committed four turnovers within the first six minutes of the contest. Atlanta maintained a 15-12 cushion after the first 10 minutes of action with Gray leading the way with 4 points.
The Dream return to action Sunday when they face the Washington Mystics at CareFirst Arena.
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