Coming off two statement wins, the Atlanta Dream had every reason to let their foot off the gas against a Toronto Tempo team chasing them down on the schedule. Instead, they buried the question in the first 10 minutes.
Atlanta jumped out to a season-high 33 points in the opening quarter and never let Toronto sniff a comeback until the final minute, cruising to a 94-87 victory Monday at State Farm Arena for its fourth consecutive win. The Dream improve to 12-4 on the season, even as their streak of three straight 100-point games came to an end.
A Quarter That Decided the Game
Atlanta’s defense set the tone before its offense ever got rolling. The Dream built a 23-point first-quarter lead — fueled by Allisha Gray’s 11 points and Madina Okot’s seven — and closed the period up 33-15. Atlanta shot 52.6% from the field in the quarter, including half of its six 3-point attempts, while limiting Toronto to a brutal 31.3% shooting clip and forcing seven turnovers that turned directly into 13 Dream points.
From there, it was a matter of managing the margin. Atlanta carried an 18-point cushion, 59-41, into the second half, with its 59 first-half points standing as a season high. Toronto trimmed the lead to as few as 11 early in the third quarter, but Atlanta answered, pushing it back out to 81-65 by the time the fourth quarter began. The Tempo didn’t get within single digits again until the final minute, when the final score settled at 94-87.
“I think we have some of the top defenders in the league, myself being one of those,” Rhyne Howard said postgame. “We all have the numbers to prove it. I think it makes it easier for us to, when we’re clicking early, it’s hard for other teams to dig out of that hole.”
Howard Leads, But the Story Is Okot
Howard topped Atlanta’s scoring with 20 points on five made 3-pointers, continuing the kind of two-way night she’s built her reputation on. Allisha Gray added 18 points, Jordin Canada chipped in 11 points and 13 assists, and Angel Reese contributed 11 points and nine rebounds in another well-rounded effort from Atlanta’s core.
But the breakout performance belonged to Madina Okot, the rookie center who entered the season as the 13th overall pick out of South Carolina. Okot recorded a career game with 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench against Toronto, a number made more striking given how limited her role had been to that point — she’d been averaging 4.7 points and 3.6 rebounds in roughly nine minutes per outing through her first 16 games. Inside the building, Okot shot a scorching 7-of-9 from the field, surpassing a previous career high of 16 points she’d set on May 17 against Las Vegas.
Smesko credited his rookie’s deep post position for unlocking easy looks: “It’s great seeing Madina in the first half, she was getting a lot of deep post touches and finishing around the rim.”
The performance carried a little extra weight given Okot’s path to this point. The Kenyan-born center didn’t start playing organized basketball until 2020 and reportedly needed five attempts before securing the visa that allowed her to pursue the sport in the United States — a journey that made her the highest-drafted Kenyan player in WNBA history when Atlanta selected her in April. Monday’s outburst was a reminder of why the Dream were willing to use a first-round pick on a developmental big behind an already-stacked frontcourt.
Coach’s Take
Smesko, now in his second season at the helm, pointed to ball movement and pace as the engine behind Atlanta’s surge, while acknowledging the physical toll of the team’s recent stretch:
“We have really good offensive players, and when they share the ball and move it, and we get out in transition, I think we’re as good as anybody in the league. It’s a lot to ask your players when it’s one day off, and it’s another game, and then one day off and another game, and you’re trying to play this type of intensity over and over again, but I guess that’s part of being among the best players in the world. That’s what we get asked of, and that’s what we’re asking of our players.”
What’s Next
The win sends Atlanta (12-4) west for a condensed three-games-in-four-days swing, beginning Wednesday against the Golden State Valkyries before back-to-back road games Friday and Saturday. It’s the kind of stretch that will test the depth Okot just demonstrated — and give the Dream a chance to see whether their fourth-straight win was a blip of good health or a sign of where this roster is headed as the season hits its midpoint.
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