Dream loses to Chicago Sky

The Sky keeps falling on the Atlanta Dream.

In the category of “results that don’t make sense,” the Chicago Sky, a team that has struggled with victories since its inception, has dominated the Dream since the start of the teams’ series in 2008.

The Dream was tied with Seattle for the best record in the WNBA and had a two-game lead over Connecticut and Washington in the Eastern Conference entering Friday’s game against Chicago, but those credentials didn’t stop the Sky from defeating the Dream 80-70 at Philips Arena.

Chicago (3-4) has a 7-1 record against the Dream.

“I need some help,” Dream general manager/coach Marynell Meadors said. “I don’t know what it is [against Chicago].”

The game was the second loss in a row for the Dream (6-2), which lost at Seattle 90-72 on Tuesday.

“We can’t lose sight of what we’ve done when we were 6-0,” Meadors said.

The Dream (6-2) plays at Washington on Saturday night.

“We don’t have time to think about this game,” Meadors said.

The Dream took their first lead of the game, at 13-12, when Kelly Miller made a baseline 3-pointer.

Chicago then went on a 10-3 run to take a 22-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Sky’s last points of the quarter-ending run came when Erin Thorn made a fadeaway jump shot at the 24-second-clock buzzer to give Chicago a 22-15 lead.

Chicago continued its timely scoring in the second quarter as it came up with big shots to keep its lead just beyond the Dream’s reach.

The Dream shot 44.4 percent from the field, but they couldn’t overcome 13 turnovers in the half. The Dream’s Angel McCoughtry, who entered the game averaging 22 points, was held to five points on 1-of4 shooting from the field.

“The first half was very hard because things were not going our way,” Dream guard Iziane Castro Marques said.

Chicago began the third quarter with a 16-6 run to take a 56-41 lead.

The Dream cut Chicago’s lead to 76-68 with 3:24 remaining, but couldn’t get any closer.

“We just didn’t play our game,” Castro Marques said. “People now are ready for us.”