Dream, Storm try to stop skids (Jun 12, 2017)
The Atlanta Dream and Seattle Storm will be looking to snap losing streaks when they meet Tuesday night at KeyArena.
The Dream (4-4) have lost three consecutive games, all on the road. The latest was a 104-71 defeat on Saturday at Connecticut.
The Storm (5-4) have lost two in a row, including a 94-86 defeat on Sunday at New York.
Breanna Stewart, who is 10th in the league in scoring at 16.9 points per game, scored a game-high 23 points for Seattle and had a team-high 10 rebounds before fouling out. Teammate Sue Bird scored 21 points, making 8 of 11 shots from the field, and had 10 assists for her 22nd career double-double.
But the Liberty used a late 12-1 run to pull away.
"Down the stretch, they made more plays than we did," said Bird, a 15-year veteran who is averaging 10.6 points and a league-leading 8.1 assists per game. "We had some costly turnovers and they were able to get just enough of a lead."
Jewell Loyd matched her season average with 19 points in the loss to New York but was 6 of 17 from the field. She is sixth in the league in scoring.
The Storm are 4-1 at home, with their only loss at KeyArena to undefeated Minnesota.
Seattle leads the league in field-goal percentage at 48.2 and Atlanta is last at 39.5.
The Dream are led by Tiffany Hayes, who was the Eastern Conference player of the month in May. She is averaging 18.3 points, eighth in the league.
Hayes was limited to nine points at Connecticut, which outscored Atlanta 37-16 in the fourth quarter.
Atlanta's Bria Holmes (11.3 points per game) and Layshia Clarendon (10.8 ppg) are also averaging double-figure scoring. Clarendon is third in the league with 6.0 assists per game.
The Dream acquired Jordan Hooper last week from Connecticut in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2018 WNBA draft. Hooper made her Atlanta debut in Saturday's loss, scoring five points in 8:41 off the bench.
"The trade for Hooper will provide us another 3-point shooter that we can really use," Dream coach Michael Cooper said. "She is a seasoned player, who has been in this league a couple of years."
This will be the first of three meetings between the Dream and Storm this season.