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The Atlanta Dream had a two-game win streak snapped on Tuesday following their 68-55 loss on the road against the Dallas Wings. With the loss, the Dream dropped to 10-5 on the season, but remain only one game behind the New York Liberty for the top seed in the Eastern Conference standings. Despite the loss, the Dream got a strong game from star guard Rhyne Howard who set a new franchise points record in the process.
Rhyne Howard finished with a game-high 23 points, and in doing so, she set a Dream record in becoming the youngest player in franchise history to reach 2,000 career points, the team announced. She was also the fifth player in team history to reach that milestone, and the second fastest having accomplished that feat in 118 games.
Howard has been a major part of the Dream’s strong regular season so far. Alongside Allisha Gray, the pair have formed one of the top duos in the WNBA this year. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft, Howard is in her fourth season with the Dream. She’s also on pace for her third All-Star appearance in four years.
Coming into Tuesday’s game, Howard had appeared in 14 games this season at a little over 36 minutes per game. She’s been averaging 17.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals with splits of 35 percent shooting from the field, 30.1 percent shooting from the three-point line and 80.4 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Howard’s field goal percentage and three-point percentage may be career-lows to this point, but the stats don’t tell the whole story on how valuable to the team she is.
A few other big reasons for the Dream’s strong season thus far is their free agent additions and internal development. The Dream signed Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones as free agents to play alongside star guards Howard and Gray. And fourth-year forward Naz Hillmon has been putting in a career season.
