If the Dream are to return to the WNBA finals they need to learn to hold a lead in the fourth quarter.
The Dream wasted a late lead for the second consecutive game, losing to Washington 98-90 in overtime Thursday night at Philips Arena.
Against New York on Sunday, the Dream (0-2) led by six points with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and lost in overtime. On Thursday, they led by five with 5:51 to go in the fourth.
The culprit in the opener was missed free throws. This time the free throws still weren’t great (17-of-28), but the Dream couldn’t stop Washington’s wrecking crew of Crystal Langhorne, Nicky Anosike and Matee Ajavon. They combined to score 83 points.
“When you score 90-something points you need to learn how to defend,” coach Marynell Meadors said.
The loss wasted a nice bounce-back game from Erika de Souza, who scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Limited to a little more than 17 minutes because of foul trouble Sunday, de Souza scored five points with two rebounds.
“We need to be more focused in our post play, we need to focus on their main players on the court and lock in,” she said.
The loss also wasted the return of Angel McCoughtry. The team’s leading scorer last season (21.1 points per game) and arguably its best defender, McCoughtry suffered a sprained left knee May 25 that prevented her from playing Sunday. She practiced Wednesday.
She didn’t start Thursday, but entered at the 6:29 mark in the second quarter. She played 3 minutes, 14 seconds, all in the first half, scoring two points with two steals. She said she was ready to play in the second half. Meadors didn’t want to put McCoughtry in because of her long layoff, fearing a re-injury.
The Dream need de Souza to stay on the floor and McCoughtry to play as they begin a three-game road trip Saturday at San Antonio. They also will play New York for the second time in this young season Tuesday and then will face Minnesota, with former metro Atlanta high school standout Maya Moore, on the road June 17 and at Philips Arena on June 19.
In overtime, Washington used a long jumper by former Dream player Kelly Miller, a 3-pointer by Ajavon and free throws by Anosike to take a six-point lead with 2:44 remaining. The Dream scored only five points on 2-of-11 shooting in overtime, another poor effort in the extra frame. They missed six of their eight overtime shots Sunday.
The Dream led for most of Thursday’s game until Langhorne scored five consecutive points to give Washington its first lead, at 82-80, with less than six minutes remaining.
Lindsey Harding tied the game with a jumper, and a free throw by Armintie Price gave the Dream a 83-82 lead. Iziane Castro Marques made a running jumper that pushed the lead to 85-82.
Miller, who was playing against her sister, Coco, for the first time this season, made a 3-pointer for Washington to the game at 85 with one minute left. Coco Miller tried to answer with her own 3-pointer, but missed with 33.9 seconds remaining.
Ajavon missed her driving layup, and Harding snagged the rebound with 13.8 seconds remaining to set up the final play in regulation. The Dream had a chance to win, but Harding missed a running layup as time expired following some confusion on the final play
“There’s not a lot of chemistry out on the floor right now,” Meadors said. “Until we get whole again with Angel back out on the court, I think we are going to struggle a bit.”
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