Overtime setback drops sluggish Dream to .500

For the second time this season, the Dream played extra basketball against the Indiana Fever. But unlike the 90-88 double overtime win in Indianapolis mid-month, the Dream couldn’t get key baskets and stops when they needed and fell 82-77 in overtime Sunday evening.

The Fever (1-3) claimed their first victory of the season in the game played at Philips Arena. The Dream (2-2) had a lost weekend with back-to-back losses and their quick start of a week ago seems a long time ago.

The Dream were coming off of a tough road loss at Eastern Conference-leading Chicago on Saturday night, and came out flat in Sunday’s overtime period after struggling to get good shots in the final minutes of regulation. The Dream also struggled with turnovers, committing 21. And it was a rare home loss. The Dream had won 19 of its previous 23 at home.

“It was another great game, and while it may feel like the end of the season, this is just the fourth game. We have a long road ahead of us – a long way,” Dream coach Michael Cooper said. “A little bit of the wear and tear from last night (Chicago) caught up to us, especially in the later periods. When you have player (Erlana Larkins) dominate the boards like that, it is going to be tough for you to win some games. Tonight was no different than the last time we played this team. They made some adjustments. This is like a boxing match, delivering shots and taking shots. We’ll see them again down the road.”

With the score tied at 68 after regulation, Indiana (1-3) scored the first six points of overtime within the first minute of the extra period on a layup by Larkins seconds after the opening tip, a driving layup by Briann January and an off-balance running one-hander from the left of the lane by guard Sydney Carter, to open up a 74-68 lead the Dream couldn’t overcome.

Dream forward Angel McCoughtry scored a game-high 19 points, a night after sitting out with an injury in Chicago. Jasmine Thomas added 17, Sancho Lyttle 15 and Erika DeSouza 14. Guard Shoni Schimmel had her worst game of the season, shooting 1-for-6 with five turnovers. She did have eight assists.

“Shoni was trying to do a little too much,” Cooper said. “She may be a rookie, but she’s trying to do the right things. Her passes over the top were a little off, so maybe she needs to take it to the lane more. Other than that, she played pretty good.”

January led four Fever players in double figures with 16 andLarkins had 22 rebounds.

The Dream jumped to a 14-9 lead and got a DeSouza layup with 11 seconds left for a 21-16 lead.

Indiana started the second quarter on a 9-2 run punctuated by three by January, to retake the lead 28-23 at the six-minute mark. The Dream responded but the Fever closed the period with a 11-6 run, as January nailed another triple during the spurt, to take a 39-35 halftime lead.

Atlanta outscored the Fever 9-4 to start the second half and reclaimed the lead again 44-43 after Thomas finished off a fast break with a layup at the seven-minute mark. But Indiana began to warm up from the three-point arc and eventually took its largest lead of the game at 63-55 with a minute left in the quarter. Fever reserve Maggie Lucas illustrated Indiana’s proficiency from beyond the arc – Indiana shot 50 percent (6-of-12) through three quarters – when she came in the game after not playing in the first half and made good on a three, her only field-goal attempt of the game.

But the Dream trimmed the deficit to 64-60 at the end of the third quarter, on the strength of six consecutive points by Thomas who had a conventional three-point play and then nailed a three-pointer on Atlanta’s next possession with 24 seconds left in the period.