Rhyne Howard drops 25 as Dream defeat struggling Storm

Rhyne Howard scored 25 points and handed out seven assists to lead the visiting Atlanta Dream to an 85-75 win over the Seattle Storm on Wednesday.

Allisha Gray added 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Brittney Griner contributed 11 points and eight boards off the bench for Atlanta (21-11), which stretched its season-best winning streak to six games. Maya Caldwell chipped in 10 points.



Seattle (16-17) suffered its sixth straight loss despite Nneka Ogwumike’s game-high 29 points and nine rebounds. Gabby Williams added 11 points and six assists.


Holding a slim two-point lead at halftime, Atlanta pushed the margin to eight early in the third before Seattle responded with a 10-1 run, capped by Ogwumike, to go ahead 49-48.


Howard then sparked an 11-5 surge for a 59-52 Dream lead, before catching fire with three 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the quarter to make it 68-54 heading into the fourth.

Howard’s fifth triple of the night extended the lead to 16 with 7:11 left, and though Seattle trimmed the gap to eight late, Atlanta held firm.

Early in the game, Caldwell’s back-to-back 3-pointers fueled an 11-0 Dream run, while Griner’s rare triple helped build a double-digit cushion. Seattle rallied to close within 41-39 at halftime, but Howard’s hot shooting proved too much to overcome.