“We just were not making shots,” said coach Meadors. “We had open looks and we just did not knock them down. We kept missing, kept missing, kept missing and they kept scoring and kept pushing us down.”

Atlanta started slow and never really got a grove going. They shot only 15% from the field during the first quarter making only 3-out-of-20 shots to end the period 21-6, Chicago.

In the 2nd period, Chicago pushed a 13-2 run including 10 points from Candice Dupree to advance their lead to 44-17 at the half.

The Sky made a 6-0 run late in the 3rd, gaining a 26 point lead, 62-36 going into the 4th.

Atlanta finally kicked it into gear outscoring the Sky 30-17 during the 4th quarter but ti was a little to late for a win.

Jennifer Lacy and Betty Lennox scored 11 each and Kristine Haynie added 9.

Betty Lennox led the Dream with 24 points with 17 of those in the second half. Ivory Latta and Jennifer Lacy added 11 each. This is their second win all season.

“We lost enough games for a lifetime,” Lacy said. “We’re just resilient. We keep fighting and we find a way to come back. We make scrappy plays, we somehow find baskets. That’s been a character of our team the whole season, it’s just that now we’re finding a way to pull out those W’s.”

Minnesota came out in the first quarter to lead 19-6. Atlanta shot only 16.7%.

“We just looked at each other and we’re like ‘not again,’ and we kept fighting and fighting and pushing and pushing and getting stops,” Lacy said.

At half time, Minnesota had a 38-26 lead over the Dream.

In the second half the Dream played big.

Minnesota went on a 15-4 run in the 3rd but by the end of the of the quarter Atlanta had come within 5, 54-49.

Down by 6 points with just over 3 minutes left, the Dream rallied a 13-1 run, shooting 71%, for the win. Jennifer Lacy hit a 3 and Tamara Young made a layup off a long pass from Kristine Haynie. Haynie then scored on a drive with 35 seconds left in regulation to gain a lead of 71-67.

With just 24 seconds Allison Bales, a new acquisition from Indiana last week, blocked a shot by Nicole Ohlde. Bales also had 11 rebounds.

Ivory Latta led the Dream with 18 points with 16 of her 18 in the first half to win over the Chicago Sky, 91-84 on Saturday night.

Latta was so excited about the win she danced around the court with her teammates surrounding her as blue and white confetti poured over them.

“It was just this great feeling inside knowing we finally got one,” Latta said. “I looked up into the crowd and saw all the smiling faces and felt that this is what they deserve.”

Kristin Haynie added 11 points with 11 assists.

“Everyone stepped up and just had the mind-set of contributing,” Haynie said. “It was all about us getting it done.”

And they got it done! They came back from 13-points down in the first quarter when Tamera Young, Betty Lennox and Iziane Castro Marques contributed 10 points each. Jennifer Lacy added 11, 18 points overall, to help the Dream get to a 46-35 lead at half time. Lacy says the team never gave up.

“There was so much time left,” Lacy said. “We couldn’t give up. We couldn’t let this one slip through, so we kept pushing.”

Chicago did bounce back in the second half to push a 1 point lead, 81-80, with just under 2 mintues to go in regulation.

But the momentum changed after Young made 2 free throws to put Atlanta up by 1. Then Latta scored a layup and Young added 2 more free throws to put them up by 5 with less than a minute to play.

“She’s a winner, she’s an absolute winner,” coach Meadors said of Latta. “It’s never say die with her. She just looks at me with those big eyes and I know she wants it.”

With 20 seconds left to go, Chicago’s Jia Perkins hit a 3 to cut the Atlanta lead to 2, 86-84. But the Dream pulled away by hitting 5 more free throws to win the game 91-84.

With the win, Atlanta has some newfound confidence says coach Meadors.

“We finally got some smiles,” coach said. “We can actually walk with our heads up high and shoulders back. I think now we’ll be OK.”