ATLANTA- The Dallas Wings took on the Atlanta Dream inside Philips Arena for the first time this season, falling in overtime action 95-90.
After a being down by 13 at halftime, the Wings came back to take the lead late in the fourth quarter 76-73, before Atlanta’s Angel McCoughtry sunk in two baskets at the line, after a foul was called on Odyssey Sims to take the game in overtime, and lead Atlanta to the win.
Karima Christmas led the night recording her fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Glory Johnson hit her third straight double-double and fifth overall with 16 points and 15 boards. Johnson was taken out of game early in the fourth quarter, after suffering a toe injury.
Three other Wings players scored double figures for the night. Skylar Diggins scored 15 points for the night, Courtney Paris tallied 13, and Odyssey Sims hit 11 points.
The Wings continue their road trip, as they travel to take on Minnesota tomorrow night in Minneapolis. Dallas will return to Arlington, Sunday, July 17 to host the Minnesota Lynx for Teachers Appreciation Day/Back To School Night, presented by American Fidelity. Tickets are available for purchase at www.dallaswingsbasketball.com.
Dallas Wings Post Game Notes
•The Wings played without the service of Plenette Pierson who was out with a concussion for tonight’s game.
•Glory Johnson registered her third straight double-double of the season, sixth overall with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
•Karima Christmas’ 18 points and 15 rebounds tallied her fourth double-double of the season.
•Dallas closed out the third quarter with a 17-2 run to trim an 18-point deficit to three points (62-59) entering the final quarter.
•The Wings dominated the offensive boards which turned into a 25-9 advantage in second chance points over the Dream.
•Johnson suffered a toe injury at 8:45 of the fourth quarter and missed the remainder of the contest.
•This marked Dallas’ third overtime game this season – the Wings are 2-1 overall in extra time.
•Courtney Paris’ 13 points ties a season high.
•Five Wings players hit double figures for the night.
Dallas Post Game Quotes
Center Courtney Paris
On overall team performance…
“I think it was a tale of two halves. They came out with the momentum and did a great job in the first half. I thought we stayed with them the second half and obviously it came out even matched and went into overtime. We had a chance to win but we just didn’t get it done.”
On stopping Tiffany…
“Just attention to details and adjustments from everybody. More help on the post and as a team paying attention to her.”
On strategy after Dream 12 points off fast break and turnovers during the second quarter…
“Coach Williams is always about teams how teams are going to go on runs. Great teams have great players that do great things but you just have to keep playing. That’s kind of our thing. Also we don’t want to put ourselves in that situation but we have to play through it and I thought we did a good job with doing that.”
Forward Karima Christmas
On team’s overall performance…
“We started out a little slow but we knew coming in here that they are a great defensive team. We gave them a lot of transition points so in the second half we kind of wanted to limit that. I’m proud of the way we came out in the second half we were down by I think 17-18 and fighting back and almost winning it in regulation. It speaks volumes of what this team can do but at the same time we have to buckle down in the end and get those key stops to come out and win it.”
On Dream’s ball movement during first half…
“We needed to be more aggressive. We were kind of letting them do what they wanted to do out there so they could get any shot that they wanted and they got a lot of points in the paint. So just being more aggressive and making them have to get the ball further out.”
On mentality preparing for overtime after a fast-paced game…
“That’s kind of our identity this year. We had a triple overtime in Phoenix, we had another overtime at home. We just go in and play as hard as we can. You know a lot of people are tired but you know you have to dig deep in those overtimes and get those key stops and get an executed play down the stretch.”