Undefeated Sun handles cold shooting dream

“I feel like we’re a much better team than what we showed today,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said. “We sometimes let our offense dictate our defense. I thought it killed our confidence sometimes. We missed some easy shots. We were getting great looks – looks we want. Especially in the first half.

It was a competitive first quarter and both teams were tied at 17 after 10 minutes.

Connecticut missed its first six 3-pointers until DeWanna Bonner’s triple with 4:30 left in the second quarter got the Sun going from long range. Connecticut made its next two 3-point attempts to take a double-digit lead and the Sun took a 39-27 advantage into halftime.

“In the first quarter we had some good looks and we were able to stay in bounds,” Wright said. “We kept telling them, ‘We’re moving the ball, we’re looking good but they’re not falling down yet.’ Playing inside and outside We came out of the second quarter and it was jump shots, jump shots, jump shots. It was literally everything we said not to do. It was a pass (and a) shot.

Atlanta made 19 of its 67 field goal attempts (28.4%) and the Dream was led by Tina Charles who had a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Guards Rhyne Howard (2 of 9) and Haley Jones (1 of 6) combined for seven points.

“They were beautiful, but they just weren’t falling in love with us,” Wright said. “If our guards are superb, we will take them. When they hit (shots), they should keep taking them. We just didn’t knock them down tonight. Rhyne had a great look today that she usually knocks over. She didn’t knock them over tonight. Then we have to play differently. Our energy was terrible on the offensive end because we weren’t making shots.

Connecticut shot 28 of 66 (42.4%), led by Bonner’s 18 points. Bonner was 8 of 15 overall and 2 of 4 from distance and she completed her double-double with 10 rebounds. Tayasha Harris made three 3-pointers and had 13 points and DiJonai Carrington scored 15 points.

“They had easy looks that they knocked down,” Aerial Powers said. “That’s where the heart comes in, just forcing them to land harder shots and box out without letting them get second chance points.”

Forward Cheyenne Parker-Tyus suffered two early personal fouls and played just 13 minutes. She was 2 of 5 with four points.

“We’re not going to win a lot of games with Cheyenne only getting five shots,” Wright said. “A lot of it has to do with being on the field. She only played 13 minutes. Typically, CP comes out the first three or four minutes. She played her normal first three or four minutes for the rest of the game, she only played seven minutes. It’s hard. She is one of our best players. We need her on the pitch to be able to play the way we want.

Connecticut dominated rebounding with a 45-33 advantage and Alyssa Thomas led the way in the category with 14. The Sun pulled down seven offensive rebounds.

“Obviously it’s a little easier to rebound on shots that don’t go through the basket,” Naz Hillmon said. “We didn’t make our shots, so they cleaned up really well and tried to make sure we didn’t have any more chances. This is important when your shots don’t fall. I think a lot of that was due to their boxing after we missed our shots.

Difficult and unusual quarters have bitten the Dream in two of its three losses this year. In a May 26 loss to the Lynx, the Dream were outscored 26-12 in the third quarter. Atlanta was not outscored by more than three points in the other quarters of the competition.

“We have to go back to the drawing board,” Wright said. “Our challenge is to be consistent. As coaches we have to continue to talk to them and coach them. We’re going to coach these things. We’ll show them the areas we weren’t great at. When we show them, we show them the good and the areas (where we need) growth.

Atlanta has three days off before the New York Liberty come to town on Thursday and the teams are set for a 7:30 p.m. fight.

“It’s really tough,” Wright said of the Dream’s schedule. “It doesn’t matter if they’re the defending champions or the best team in the league. Then you have New York and we’re going to Chicago. At one point we had Indy. Every (opponent) is going to be tough. If you want to win games in this league, the best teams – night in and night out – are consistent.