Nobody’s perfect

Hayes helps Atlanta hand Sun first defeat

Atlanta — The Connecticut Sun shot the basketball like a team that was playing their third road game in five days.

Connecticut, the WNBA's top scoring and top shooting team, went ice cold at the McCamish Pavilion Tuesday night.

The Atlanta Dream had no such issues as former UConn star Tiffany Hayes made 7 of 13 shots for a game-high 22 points with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in an 82-77 win over the Sun, ending Connecticut's season-opening winning streak at five games.

Connecticut (5-1) shot 50.8 percent from the field prior to Tuesday's game and made 40 percent of its 3-pointers.

The Sun shot 36.6 percent (30 of 82) against the Dream (3-3). They also shot a woeful 21.9 percent from behind the arc (7 of 32).

It was the first meeting between the two teams since Nicki Collen took over as the Dream's head coach after she had spent the previous two seasons as a Connecticut assistant under head coach Curt Miller.

Damiris Dantas had 15 points and five rebounds for Atlanta and Renee Montgomery scored 12. Angel McCoughtry added 11 points and four assists.

Alyssa Thomas led Connecticut with 19 points, a career-high 17 rebounds with six assists while Chiney Ogwumike added 12 points and nine rebounds, Alex Bentley finished with 12 points and five assists, and Courntey Williams added 11 points and nine rebounds,

The Sun started well as they went 10 of 19 from the field with four 3-pointers while building a 2519 first quarter lead.

The Dream outscored Connecticut 27-15 in the second quarter to take a 46-40 lead halftime lead.

The Sun outscored Atlanta 19-14 in the third quarter as Thomas, Ogwumike and Rachel Banham combined for 15 points, pulling Connecticut within 60-59 after three quarters.

A three-point play by Thomas tied the game at 62 with just over nine minutes remaining, and the game was tied again at 64 a short time later.

Connecticut could not convert on multiple possessions with chances to take the lead, and Atlanta held on in the closing minutes.