Dream pull away late, keep Mystics winless

Allisha Gray scored 19 points and Tina Charles paired 17 points with 15 rebounds as the visiting Atlanta Dream extended the Washington Mystics' winless start to the season with a 73-67 victory on Wednesday.

Former Mystic Aerial Powers added 12 points off the bench for the Dream (3-2), while Cheyenne Parker-Tyus bundled 10 points with nine boards. Gray shot 7 of 9 from the floor and made four of six 3-pointers. Charles finished 7-of-11.

Rhyne Howard went 2-of-11 from the floor but hit all seven of her free throw attempts for Atlanta, which went 15-of-21 from the line compared to Washington's 7-of-7 clip.

Ariel Atkins scored 21 points to lead the Mystics (0-7), who are off to their worst start since opening the 2007 season 0-8. Shakira Austin supplied 12 points with nine rebounds and Stefanie Dolson had 10 points.

Neither team led by more than six until the Dream engineered a 10-2 run to build a 67-60 lead with just under three minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Atlanta began its surge when Howard fed a cutting Parker-Tyus for a layup that put the Dream up 59-58 with 7:30 left. Atkins' pullup that pulled Washington within 63-60 midway through the quarter was the Mystics' only bucket over nearly an eight-minute span as Atlanta slowly pulled away.

Gray's jumper from the elbow capped the Dream's decisive surge with 2:55 to play. Julie Vanloo ended Washington's field goal drought with her only basket, a 3-pointer that made it 71-65 with 35.1 seconds left.

Howard made four free throws in the final minute to seal the win for Atlanta.

Gray had eight points on 3-of-3 shooting less than two minutes in as the Dream controlled the game's early stages, opening a 15-9 lead midway through the first quarter.

The Mystics soon found their stroke and pulled ahead 18-17 on Karlie Samuelson's 3-pointer from the left wing. Aaliyah Edwards and Myisha Hines-Allen added buckets for Washington to power a 13-3 run that propelled the Mystics into the second quarter leading 22-18.

Atlanta finished the second quarter far stronger than it did the first.

Gray drilled two triples during the Dream's 10-0 run over the half's final three minutes to flip their six-point deficit into a 38-34 halftime lead.

Washington opened the second half with a 10-2 spurt to go up 44-40 before Powers hit two treys for Atlanta late in the third quarter to level the game at 54 entering the final period.

--Field Level Media