Dallas Wings (3-1) vs. Atlanta Dream (3-1)
Date: Friday, May 27, 2016
Time: 7:30 PM (CDT)
Site: College Park Center (Arlington, TX)
Television: TEXAS47
Webcast: WNBA League Pass
Probable Starters
Wings- Karima Christmas, Plenette Pierson, Courtney Paris, Odyssey Sims, Erin Phillips
Dream- Sancho Lyttle, Angel McCoughty, Elizabeth Williams, Layshia Clarendon, Tiffany Hayes
Storylines
This is the second of three straight home games for the Dallas Wings. The Wings beat the San Antonio Stars 82-77 in the team’s home opener last Saturday and will face the Atlanta Dream on Friday before going up against he Chicago Sky on Sunday afternoon. Last season, as the Tulsa Shock, the team was 11-5 at home.
The Dream opened the 2016 season with four of the first five games on the road. Atlanta beat the New York Liberty in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday afternoon, and will head home to face the Indiana Fever on Sunday following Friday night’s tilt.
Friday’s game will mark the first of three meetings this season between the Wings and Dream. Dallas will travel to Atlanta on July 8th and July 22nd. Last season, the team was 1-1 vs. Atlanta, winning on the road and losing in Tulsa.
Wings guard and Irving, TX native Odyssey Sims has averaged 18.3 points per game to open the season and leads the league with 73 points scored.
Dallas center Courtney Paris also ranks toward the top of league leaders with 45 total rebounds (2nd) and 11.3 rebounds per game (3rd). Karima Christmas has joined Paris in cleaning up on the boards, ranking 13th in the league with 6.8 rebounds per game.
Atlanta guard Layshia Clarendon has scored double digits in all four games of the young season. The fourth-year Clarendon, who joined the Dream this year after starting her career in Indiana, is averaging 12.8 points per game on 59% shooting while dishing out a team-high 10 assists and grabbing 24 rebounds.
What the Wings are saying about the Dream…
Head Coach Fred Williams- “They are an improved team. They have really shown a lot more speed and they are starting to get (forward) Sancho Lyttle more involved. They have started to play with more rhythm and they had a nice win (last weekend) in Chicago. It should be a good one to watch.”
Assistant Coach Bridget Pettis- “They are a fast-breaking team so we’ve got to be ready to get up-tempo. It’s going to be a high scoring game if we’re not getting stops. It’s going to be an exciting game because this is an up-tempo team like us.”
Forward Karima Christmas- “(Guard) Tiffany Hayes is a great shooter. Their post play has done really well, and (guard) Layshia Clarendon has done really well for them too. They are a threat all around so we just have to come in focused on what we need to do.”
Guard Erin Phillips- “I think they are coming off of a very good win in New York. They are a very aggressive, athletic team. They are going to come in and challenge us. We’ve been preparing for them all week since last game, so we’ve had a good amount of time to get ready for them.”