Arlington, TX – The Dallas Wings will welcome the Atlanta Dream to College Park Center tonight. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm and will be televised on FOX Sports Southwest Plus. It will be one of two matchups against the eastern conference opponent this week. Following tonight’s contest, the Wings will head to the Dream’s home court for game two of the series and week on Sunday, July 9. It will be the only contest played in Atlanta.
ON THE DREAM
The Dream are coming off a win over the New York Liberty this past Sunday afternoon, snapping a three-game losing streak to start the month of July with an 1-0 record and 6-7 overall.
VERSUS ATLANTA
Tonight’s contest marks as the 23rd time overall, that both franchises will meet. The first time these two teams went up against each other was in 2008 in Atlanta. Last season,the Dream took the series 3-0 over the Wings, with two games played in Atlanta and one in Arlington. This season, the teams will play twice at College Park Center and once in Atlanta. At home, the Wings are 4-7 over the Dream. The last time these two teams met was on July 22, 2016 in Atlanta. Skylar Diggins-Smith tied a season high with 29 points, scoring 19 in the first quarter. It was the most points scored by a Wings player in any game in 2016.
DOUBLE VISION
The Wings are now 8-9 at the halfway point into the season. It is the same record they had last season during this time of year. The team ended the month of June at 5-6, the exact same record they held in 2016 walking into the month of June.
AGAINST THE EAST
When facing eastern conference opponents, the Wings are 3-4 this season, taking wins over Indiana, Washington and Connecticut. Two of the wins occurred at College Park Center.
FLYING HIGH
The Wings continue to board up 30 or more rebounds per game. On May 30 against the Indiana Fever, the team broke a new season high with 42. It marked as the second game this season, that the team grabbed over 40 boards in a game. The first game this season was against Phoenix on May 14, when the team recorded 41 boards on the Mercury’s home court. Overall the team is averaging 32.9 boards per game, which places them in the top 10 amongst the league. The Wings have grabbed over 30 rebounds in ten of the 17 games played. Glory Johnson leads the team averaging 8.6 boards per game. Defensively, the team is averaging, 22.9 rebounds per game ranking ninth. Glory Johnson leads with a total of 104 (6.2 average) on the opposite side of the court. In offensive boards, the team is boarding up 9.9 per game, for a total of 169.
LINE IT UP
Behind the line the Wings are ranked in the top five for the sixth straight week. Overall the team is shooting an .823 percentage, making 21.8 shots per game with 26.6 attempts. The team is outscoring their opponents behind the line with an .826 percentage to their .806 percentage. On June 11 against Minnesota, the Wings recorded a new season high for Wings behind the free throw line in a game. The team shot 91.3 percent, the first time to hit over the 90 percentage mark this season.
Karima Christmas-Kelly led the team shooting 10-for-11. Overall the team is shooting an .832 percentage, which ranks fourth in the league. Theresa Plaisance leads the team shooting perfect from the line going 9-for-9.
WATCH US WORK
Tonight’s broadcast will be televised on FOX Sports Southwest Plus.