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The Atlanta Dream needed overtime and a season-best scoring effort from Angel McCoughtry to escape with an 81-79 win over the Chicago Sky Sunday at Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion.
Atlanta hit on all cylinders in Saturday's win over the Indiana Fever, but the second game of the back-to-back proved to be a struggle. Chicago jumped out to an early lead and maintained a 46-42 lead at the half. Atlanta's bench struggled as they fell behind by as many as 11 points in the second quarter.
With the bench struggling, Michael Cooper opted to ride his starters in the second half. Celine Dumerc was the only bench player to log more than two minutes of playing time in the second half.
The Dream got themselves back up off the deck in the third as they outscored the Sky 17-9 in the period. Atlanta shot just 33 percent in the quarter but clamped down on defense and held Chicago to just 4-15 shooting from the field. Angel McCoughtry scored nine of her game-high 33 points in the period and put the team on her shoulders offensively.
It was a sharp contrast from Saturday's game where McCoughtry finished with just 11 points and went scoreless in the second half. 18 of McCoughtry's 33 points came in the second half and overtime on Sunday and the Dream needed every single one of them.
Atlanta was fortunate to escape regulation with the game tied. The Dream had the ball with a 73-72 lead and just 34 seconds left on the clock but a shot clock violation gave Chicago another chance. On the next possession, Epiphanny Prince was fouled on the drive with just 3.7 seconds remaining. Prince, a 92 percent free throw shooter, missed the first attempt but made the second to tie things up at 73-73.
Chicago would get one final chance after replay showed that Atlanta's inbounds attempt was out of bounds off McCoughtry. Sylvia Fowles broke wide open under the Dream's basket but missed the game-winning attempt sending the game to overtime.
Tiffany Hayes put Atlanta up for good with a pair of free throws with 29 seconds remaining and a late turnover prevented the Sky from getting off a game-tying attempt.
Hayes finished with 17 points while Sancho Lyttle added 12 points to go along with 13 rebounds. Allie Quigley led the Sky with 27 points off the bench. Fowles finished with 17 points and 14 boards while Tamara Young added 14. The Dream get the win despite shooting a season worst 35 percent from the field.
Atlanta improves to 15-5 on the season and pushes their winning streak to four straight. They will travel to New York on Wednesday for a matchup with the Liberty before breaking for the WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday.