Kayla Thornton scored a career-high 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting, Teaira McCowan added 14 points and 14 rebounds, and the Dallas Wings beat Atlanta 81-68 on Saturday night.
Arike Ogunbowale added 21 points, eight assists and five steals for the Wings.
Dallas (13-16) tied with the Phoenix Mercury for sixth place in the WNBA rankings with about two weeks to go in the regular season. Atlanta (12-18), among the six teams battling for the final three playoff spots, is ninth, one game behind Los Angeles Sparks (12-16) for the eighth and final playoff spot and 1 1/ 2 games ahead of Minnesota. Lynx (11-19).
The Wings avoided a season sweep against Atlanta, which won the first two games: a 66-59 road win on May 7 and an 80-75 home win on June 21.
Tiffany Hayes left the game with an apparent ankle injury early in the second quarter and did not go back to sleep exhausted. The 32-year-old shooting guard, who missed the first 19 games of the season on the road and was later recovering from a knee injury, entered the game tied with a career-high 17.2 points, in 10 games this season.
Forwards Monique Billings (ankle) and Nia Coffey (knee) as well as guard AD Durr also did not play for Atlanta. The Dream announced Friday that Durr, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft that the Dream acquired last month in a trade with the New York Liberty, will miss the rest of the season in preparation for hip surgery. Durr, a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year in Louisville, has played 43 games in her WNBA career due to injuries and COVID-related issues. The 5-foot-10 guard has averaged 10.7 points in 15 games with Atlanta this season.
Rhyne Howard led Atlanta with 22 points, all in the first three quarters. Aari McDonald scored 13 points and Cheyenne Parker 12.
fuente: www.nbcdfw.com
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