Dream jolt Shock for third straight win

Dream jolt Shock for third straight win

Published Jun. 29, 2012 11:37 p.m. ET

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Angel McCoughtry scored 24 points and Armintie Price added 19 as the Atlanta Dream beat the Tulsa Shock 102-92 Friday night for their third straight win.

Tiffany Hayes had 15 points, Aneika Henry scored 14 and Cathrine Kraayeveld added 11 to help Atlanta (7-7) finish with its highest scoring total of the season.

Ivory Latta and Glory Johnson scored 16 points each to lead Tulsa (2-12). Riquna Williams had 15 points, Kayla Pedersen added 14 and Temeka Johnson 12.

The Dream led by 24 in the third quarter before the Shock used a 20-7 run to pull to 85-78 on Latta's layup with 7:11 to go.

"We let up a little in the second half. When you get a big lead like that, it's hard to sustain it," said Atlanta head coach Marynell Meadors. "Tulsa always gets our attention. They have a team filled with quick scorers and you can't ever relax against them."

McCoughtry followed with a 3-pointer and Henry had putback on the next possession to push the Dream's lead to 12 just 1 1/2 minutes later.

Tulsa got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

"I thought we played well in the second half, but we have to do that in both halves," Latta said. "We just had a lack of defense in the first quarter. They were getting easy baskets and we can't let teams do that. We have to play hard for 40 minutes."

Atlanta, which improved to 5-0 against the Shock since the franchise moved to Tulsa prior to the 2010 season, finished 61 percent from the field (39 for 64) -- including 6 for 11 on 3s.

"I thought we played hard tonight and shot the ball well. We also hit the boards very well," said Meadors, who saw her team hold a 36-26 advantage in rebounding.

The Dream jumped out to an 11-point lead late at the end of the first quarter thanks in part to a strong start from Price. Averaging just 8.1 points coming in, Price had 10 in the first quarter as Atlanta connected on 12 of its 17 shots in the period to grab a 28-17 advantage.

McCoughtry took over in the second quarter, scoring 11 of her 13 first-half points, including the final four points to help the Dream to a 57-43 edge at halftime.

ADVERTISEMENT
share