Meeting for the second time in three days, this time in the WNBA’s first regular-season game outside the United States, the red-hot Atlanta Dream will try to make matters worse for the reeling Seattle Storm on Friday in Vancouver.
The neutral site game in Canada will mark the fifth time the league has played internationally, following preseason exhibitions in Mexico (2004), England (2011), Toronto (2023) and Edmonton (2024). Friday will also be a precursor to the first WNBA team based outside the States, as the Toronto Tempo will begin play next season.
Atlanta (21-11) remains in the Pacific Northwest following its 85-75 victory at Seattle on Wednesday. The Dream extended their season-long winning streak to six games and overtook the New York Liberty by half a game atop the Eastern Conference standings.
Rhyne Howard, in her second game back from a knee injury after a monthlong absence, led the Dream with 25 points, including three 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter to help Atlanta pull away.
“It’s fun to have her back,” Dream head coach Karl Smesko said of Howard. “To break out like she did, especially at the end of the third quarter, that’s exactly what she’s capable of doing and it was huge for us.”
Allisha Gray leads Atlanta with 19 points per game, followed by Howard’s 16.3 ppg.
The Dream will again be without starting point guard Jordin Canada (right hamstring), who was hurt Sunday against the Phoenix Mercury.
Seattle (16-17) enters play 0-6 in August, the team’s longest losing skid since dropping 10 in a row in 2023. Each of the Storm’s five previous defeats were decided by four points or fewer before Wednesday’s 10-point setback.
“These moments, they deflate us and we can’t get them back,” Seattle head coach Noelle Quinn said. “For me as a coach, it’s about empowering and providing confidence and having a next-play mentality, but individual players have to find that within themselves and pour that into their teammates. … Time is running out and my team knows it.”
In the midst of a dreadful stretch, veteran Nneka Ogwumike has scored in double figures in 16 straight games, including a 29-point output on Wednesday. Ogwumike is averaging 18.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game for the Storm, who are in danger of missing out on the postseason for just the seventh time in 26 seasons.
–Field Level Media
