Dream pour it on early as they rout Mercury

Allisha Gray scored a game-high 26 points on 7-for-9 shooting from 3-point range on Friday to help the Atlanta Dream post a 96-72 victory over the visiting Phoenix Mercury in College Park, Ga.

Naz Hillmon added 18 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta (17-11), which won for the fourth time in five games. Brionna Jones chipped in 16 points and eight boards, Maya Caldwell had 14 points, and Jordin Canada led the team with 11 assists.

Phoenix (16-11) dropped its fifth game in six tries and trailed by as many 35 points on Friday. Kahleah Copper led the team with 19 points, while Alyssa Thomas added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Leading by 16 at halftime, the Dream's commanding advantage ballooned to 23 on Hillmon's consecutive layups and Gray's 3-pointer, forcing a Mercury timeout with 7:24 remaining in the third.

Atlanta held Phoenix scoreless the final 2:43 of the third while scoring the final eight points of the quarter to take an 84-50 lead into the fourth. After Phoenix was outscored 26-8 in the third, DeWanna Bonner scored seven points and Kalani Brown had six in the final quarter that saw the Mercury take by a 22-12 margin.

After the Mercury jumped out to an early 15-7 lead, the Dream answered with 13 straight points, including Caldwell's back-to-back 3-pointers, giving Atlanta a 20-15 edge with 4:25 left in the first quarter.

Te-Hina Paopao's triple and Caldwell's third 3-pointer of the opening quarter extended Atlanta's lead to 34-23 entering the second.

Thomas' layup pulled Phoenix within eight at the 6:44 mark of the second before an 8-0 Dream run gave Atlanta its largest lead to that point at 48-32.

After Jones' hook shot pushed the advantage to 18, Sami Whitcomb's layup cut the Mercury's halftime deficit to 58-42. Gray led all scorers with 16 first-half points, while Caldwell added 14 as the duo combined to make 8 of 9 3-point attempts.

--Field Level Media