Howard Leads Dream to Dominant Win
WNBA Atlanta Dream

Howard Leads Dream to Dominant Win

Published on May 22, 2026 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Atlanta Dream News Release


The Atlanta Dream knows how to dominate fourth quarters.

The Dream outscored Dallas by 12 points in the fourth quarter to secure an 86-69 win on Friday at Gateway Center Arena.

It was the fourth consecutive game to start the season in which the Dream (3-1) outplayed its opponent, outscoring them 91-53 in the final quarter. Friday's effort was led by Rhyne Howard, who scored seven points, and Allisha Gray, who scored six in the decisive period.

Howard, who didn't play in the last game against Las Vegas, led all scorers with 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting and eight assists. Gray added 16 points and Angel Reese 15 with nine rebounds.

"Just being able to have a game like this in the first game back is a confidence booster," Howard said. "Obviously, I know that the team is probably going to look to me to make easy plays for everybody, and so being able to have that presence on the court, instead of just telling what I see from the sidelines, I think it helps us a lot."

Atlanta's defense was strong, with Howard helping to hold Dallas' Paige Bueckers to a career-low seven points on 3-of-13 shooting. Dallas shot 37.8% in the game. It averaged 48% and 91.2 points in its first five.

"I thought the defensive effort was outstanding," Dream Head Coach Karl Smesko said. "There were stretches in that game where that's about as high-level a defense as you're going to see, so I hope we can get better. Some of it was just really great communication, great effort by all five people, forcing them into tough shots."

The Dream fell behind Dallas by one point with 7:35 remaining in the fourth quarter. Smesko called a timeout and asked the players what they wanted to do.

The Dream came out and went on an 8-0 run to take a 71-64 lead.

"We put ourselves in this situation; are we ready to do what we need to do to get out of it?" Smesko said in the huddle. "And we talked about what we wanted to do in the timeout for the first two possessions, and they did exactly that, and then I thought that picked up their intensity again defensively, and I thought we were playing the way we were capable of playing down the stretch."

After a Dallas free throw cut the Dream's lead to six, Atlanta went on an 11-0 run that included a 25-foot 3-pointer from Howard to secure the win.

It didn't seem that Atlanta would need to rally after it started well for the first time. The Dream forced Dallas to miss its first 10 shots to run out to a 10-0 lead.

Dallas used an 8-0 run, fueled by three Dream turnovers, to start the second quarter and get within 19-17. But Atlanta rebuilt its lead with seven players scoring to take a 44-31 halftime lead. The Dream hit 17 of 34 shots. Dallas hit 13 of 41, including 3 of 14 3-pointers.

The Dream's 13-point halftime lead was cut to 63-58 going into the fourth quarter. Dallas' Awak Kuier, a 6-foot-6 center, hit 5 of 6 shots, including 2 of 3 3-pointers to prevent Atlanta from pulling away.

The Dream hit the accelerator after the slow start to the fourth quarter.

"I wouldn't necessarily say that's been a good thing, because we're down, but the fact that we can do it in the fourth quarter, when it starts to matter the most, it just shows our resilience," Reese said.

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