Sancho Lyttle scores 24 points to lead the Atlanta Dream to a 82-71 victory over the Chicago Sky

For the first time since June 26th, the Atlanta Dream was playing at home in front of their fans after a extended road trip and the 2012 Olympics Break. Atlanta, who entered the game with a (10-11) record, was trying to earn another victory over their conference rivals, the Chicago Sky. On Friday, the Dream earned their first victory over the Sky 82-76 in Chicago which was led by Gold Medalist and WNBA scoring leader Angel Mccoughtry's 25 points. In the previous two match-ups, the Sky won by only two points in a overtime contest in Atlanta and their last victory of the season at home on July 1st. The Sky entered last night's match-up with a (8-13) record and is shockingly going through one of the worst melt downs of the WNBA season to date because after coming out of the gates with a (7-1) record, Chicago have lost 11 of their previous 12 games, their only win was against the Dream. Atlanta fans also would get their first look at center Erika Desouza, who missed the first half of the season due to preparing to play for the Brazilian Olympic team in last month's Olympics and like last season, the team was looking to start yet another second half surge as the WNBA season winds down and the Playoffs were approaching. Last night, without the services of Angel Mccoughtry, who missed the game due to personal reasons and Yelena Leuchanka, who was injured in the Fever loss last week, the Dream would earn a much-needed win in front of (4,011) fans at Philips Arena.

FIRST QUARTER:

Chicago opened the game with the tip and would also score the first basket of the game on a Swin Cash jump-shot (9:47 left in the period) and Erika Desouza responded with a hook-shot to tie the game at 2-2 (9:24 left in the period). The Sky would respond with a Sylvia Fowles lay-up (9:02 left in the period) only to have Sancho Lyttle respond with a lay-up of her own to tie the game at 4-4 (8:43 left in the period). Lyttle's basket sparked a 7-0 Dream run as Armintie Price would split two free throws to give the team a 5-4 lead (8:29 left) and Lindsey Harding added a jump-shot to make the score 7-4 (7:49 left) and topped off with rookie Tiffany Hayes scoring on a lay-up to give Atlanta a 9-4 lead (7:26 left). After the Dream 7-0 run, Chicago responded with a 8-0 run of their own which started with veteran Swin Cash hitting two free throws to trim the Dream's lead to 9-6 (7:05 left) and was followed by Ticha Penicheiro's two free throws to cut the lead to 9-8 (6:40 left) and Swin Cash put the Sky ahead 10-9 scoring on a jump-shot (6:17 left) and continued her great first period with another jump shot to give the Sky a 12-9 lead with (5:40 left). Atlanta and Chicago would have a back and forth first period after Armintie Price scored on a lay-up to trim the Sky's lead to 12-11 (5:22 left) and after the officials timeout, Swin Cash responded for Chicago with another jump-shot to extend Chicago's lead to 14-11 (3:56 left). The Dream would re-gain the lead after Sancho Lyttle scored on a jump-shot to trim the lead to 14-13 (3:43 left) and rookie Tiffany Hayes would earn a three-point play to give the Dream a 16-14 lead (3:19 left). Courtney Vandersloot answered by knocking down a three pointer to give the Sky a 17-16 lead (3:03 left). Sancho Lyttle scored again on a jump-shot to give the Dream a 18-17 lead (2:24 left) and Tiffany Hayes added another basket giving Atlanta a 20-17 lead with (1:51 left). Courtney Vandersloot would score a jump-shot to cut the Dream's lead to 20-19 with (1:37) remaining. After the Vandersloot jump shot, both teams would trade possessions and Sancho Lyttle scored the final points of the period after hitting two free throws to give the Dream a 22-19 lead at the end of the period. For the Chicago Sky, Swin Cash led her team in scoring with (10) points and Courtney Vandersloot assisted her off the bench with (5) points and one rebound. As for the Atlanta Dream, Sancho Lyttle led the team with (8) points, (3) assists, and (2) rebounds and rookie Tiffany Hayes assisted her with (7) points, one assist and one steal.

SECOND QUARTER:

In the second period, this would be Sancho Lyttle and the Atlanta Dream's dominant quarter. The quarter opened with rookie Aneika Henry splitting free throws to give the Dream a 23-19 lead (9:23 left) followed by a Sancho Lyttle lay-up which extended Atlanta's lead to 25-19 (8:14 left) and another Sancho Lyttle jump shot gave the Dream a 27-19 lead with (7:47 remaining). Ticha Penichiero would answer with basket to cut the Dream's lead down to six only to see Sancho Lyttle respond by hitting another jump shot to extend the lead to 29-21 (7:19 left) and Armintie Price's two free-throws pushed the Dream lead to 31-21 (6:04 left). Eshaya Murphy responded with a three-pointer to cut Atlanta's lead down to 31-24 and the Dream responded by putting together a 7-0 run. Sancho Lyttle knocked down her first three pointer of the game to extend the lead to 34-24 (5:04 left), followed by Aneika Henry's lay-up to make the score 36-24 (4:36 remaining) and Armintie Price scored a driving jump-shot to extend the lead to 38-24 with (4:04) remaining. After trading a few possessions, Swin Cash hit two free throws to end the run and cut the lead down to 38-26 (3:16 left). After Atlanta's timeout, Tiffany Hayes split free throws to give the Dream a 39-26 lead (2:56 left) and Sylvia Fowles responded by splitting free throws as well to cut the deficit to 39-27 (2:41 left). Erika Desouza responded with a jump-shot to push the lead to 41-27 (2:21 left) and Cathrine Kraayeveld knock down a huge three pointer to give the Dream a 44-27 lead (1:47 left) and Sylvia Fowles would respond with a lay-up to cut the deficit back to 44-29 (1:26 left) and after trading possessions, Fowles scored again to cut the lead down to 44-31 with (.48:6 remaining) and Atlanta closed out the quarter as Tiffany Hayes split free throws to push Atlanta up to 45-31 (.44:4 remaining) and Cathrine Kraayeveld hit another three-point basket to give the Dream a 48-31 lead with (:18.2 left) in the period and that would be the score at the half. Atlanta out-scored Chicago in the paint (22-8), in second chance points (8-2), and in fast break points (5-0). The Dream also shot (58.1%) from the field and (42.9%) from three point range. In scoring, Sancho Lyttle led the team with (17) points, (4) assists, (3) rebounds, and a block and was assisted by Tiffany Hayes who scored (9) points, (3) assists, one steal, and one rebound. For the Sky, Swin Cash led the team with (12) points and Sylvia Fowles assisted her with (7) points, (3) rebounds, a block, and a steal.

THIRD QUARTER:

In the third quarter, the Chicago Sky came out of the gates and made this game interesting heading into the final period. The Sky opened on a 8-0 run as Swin Cash hit two free throws to trim the lead to 48-33 (9:23 left), followed by a Tamera Young to trim the deficit to 13 (8:43 left) and Swin Cash would again score a jump-shot to trim the deficit to 48-37 (8:08 left) and topped off by two Sylvia Fowles free throws to pull Chicago within single digits as the score was 48-39 (7:23 left). After Chicago's run, Atlanta put together their own 6-0 run as Sancho Lyttle scored another jump-shot putting the Dream up 50-39 (7:11 left) followed by an Armintie Price lay-up giving the a Dream a 52-39 lead (6:38 left) and finished off by Tiffany Hayes lay-up to extend Atlanta's lead to 54-39 (5:40 left). Sylvia Fowles ended yet another Atlanta run scoring on a driving lay-up to trim the deficit to 54-41 (5:21 left) and the Dream would again respond by scoring on a Armintie Price lay-up (5:07 left) and Lindsey Harding's running lay-up to extend the Dream lead to 58-41 with (4:35 left) and forced the Chicago Sky into a timeout with (4:34) remaining. After the Chicago timeout, the Sky put together a 7-0 run which was started by Eyshay Murphy lay-up to trim the lead to 58-43 (4:03 left), followed by two Sylvia Fowles free throws to make the score 58-45 (3:24 left) and Swin Cash continued the run with a driving lay-up and turned a three point play to make the deficit 58-48 with (2:38) left in the quarter. Tiffany Hayes ended the Sky run by splitting two free throws and giving Atlanta a 59-48 lead with (2:23) remaining in the quarter. Chicago would respond with Sylvia Fowles scoring on a lay-up to trim the deficit to 59-50 (1:55 left). The Dream again responded with Lindsey Harding scoring a driving lay-up to put the team back up 61-50 (1:35 left) and Chicago answered with a Le'Coe Willingham turn around jump shot (1:06 left) and Sylvia Fowles would answer by splitting free throws to cut the Dream's lead to 61-53 heading into the final period.Chicago out-scored the Dream (22-13) in the period. Swin Cash still led the team in scoring with (19) points, one assist and one rebound and Sylvia Fowles assited her with (16) points, (5) rebounds, (2) blocks, and one assist. Sancho Lyttle still led the Dream in scoring with (19) points, (5) assists, (3) rebounds, one steal and one block and Tiffany Hayes assisted her with (12) points, (5) assists, one steal and one rebound.

FOURTH QUARTER:

The Dream opened the final period with possession of the ball and Lindsey Harding would knock down a huge jump-shot to give the team a 63-53 lead (9:22 left) and Ticha Penichiero would respond with a jump-shot to pull within 8 points. Sylvia Fowles followed with a lay-up to cut the Dream’s lead to 63-57 with (8:37 left) and Tamera Young would hit two crucial free throws to pull to a 63-59 lead with (7:49 left) in the period. After Chicago's 6-0 run, rookie Tiffany Hayes knocked down a huge three pointer to give Atlanta a 66-59 with (7:39 left) and Sancho Lyttle finished with a three-point play to extend the Dream's lead to 69-59 with (6:30 left) but this contest was far from over. Chicago would answer with their own 7-0 run as Eyshay Murphy knocked down a huge three pointer to cut Atlanta's lead to 69-62 with (6:30 left) followed by a Sylvia Fowles lay-up and the deficit was now 69-64 with (6:09 left) and Ticha Penichiero lay-up cut the Dream's lead to 69-66 forcing Atlanta to take a timeout with (5:39) remaining in the period. After the Dream timeout, after both team traded possessions for a minute, rookie Tiffany Hayes would score the decisive three-point play with (4:11 left) to put the Dream up 72-66. After over a minute of trading possessions, Eyshay Murphy scored a huge lay-up to trim the Dream's lead to four with (2:38 left) forcing the team into a timeout. Atlanta would close out the game after Armintie Price scored two free throws pushing the Dream up 74-68 with (2:11 left) in the game. After a few missed opportunities from Chicago, Lindsey Harding split free throws to give the Dream a 75-68 lead with (1:12 left) in the game. Lindsey Harding added two free throws and Armintie Price split free throws to give Atlanta a 78-68 lead with (.38:7) left in the game. Sonja Petrovic split free throws to cut the Dream's lead back to 78-69 and Sancho Lyttle and Lindsey Harding would knock down a pair of free throws each to give the team a 82-69 lead. Sylvia Fowles scored the final two free throws of the game and the final score would be 82-71. For the Dream, Sancho Lyttle would be the team leader in scoring with (24) points, (7) rebounds, (5) assists, one steal, and a block and Tiffany Hayes had (18) points, (5) assists, one rebound and one steal. For Chicago, Sylvia Fowles led in scoring with (22) points, (6) rebounds, (3) steals, (2) blocks, and one assist and Swin Cash assisted her with (19) points, (4) rebounds, and (2) assists. Atlanta out-scored Chicago in 36-32 and the Dream shot (52.8%) from the field throughout the game.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

SANCHO LYTTLE:

Sancho Lyttle had a tremendous game against Chicago by posting (24) points, (7) rebounds, (5) assists, one steal, and a block. Lyttle posted her second highest total of the season and continues to be one of the key components to the Atlanta Dream. In the first half, Lyttle lead a dominant effort and her team rallied around her and that is what ultimately led to the early dominance against the Sky. As the season continues, Sancho Lyttle will need to perform at a high level all season long as the team continues to make their push to the WNBA Playoffs. Lyttle is a great rebounder for Atlanta and have the ability to score in the paint and can be a defensive nightmare for opposing forwards and she continued to show that effectiveness today.

CONCLUSION:

Last night's victory put the Atlanta Dream at (11-11) and the third seed in the Eastern Conference as the season comes to a close. The Dream are facing the Washington Mystics on Friday Night at 7:00 PM on NBA TV as they look to improve to over (.500) for the first time in the 2012 season and will play the defending WNBA Champions Minnesota Lynx on Saturday Night at 7:00 PM on ESPN 2. Atlanta will play seven of the next nine games at Philips Arena, which would be a benefit for the team as far as playoff seeding for the WNBA Playoffs. If you want to follow the Atlanta Dream games on the road, sign up on WNBA.com and you'll be able to see the road games on Live Access. Until next time, LET'S GO DREAM!!!!!! For continued coverage on the team throughout the season , follow the @AtlantaDream , @PeachtreeHoops , and @ATLSportsNate on Twitter.