Without its leading scorer Angel McCoughtry, the Atlanta Dream rallied late in the first half but trail the New York Liberty 40-38 at halftime. Iziane Castro Marques has done her best to take on more of the scoring load for the Dream scoring 12 points on 4-11 shooting. Sancho Lyttle and Armintie Price each have seven points for Atlanta.
Plenette Pierson scored eight of her 12 first half points in the second quarter for the Liberty. Nicole Powell has nine and Essence Carson eight for New York. Cappie Pondexter had a quiet first half with four points on 2-5 shooting.
New York hit on 50 percent of its shots while Atlanta is hovering around 40 percent. Atlanta stayed in the game thanks to turnovers from the Liberty. New York turned the ball over 13 times in the first half leading to 17 points for the Dream who only turned the ball over seven times.
New York holds an 18-12 rebounding edge thanks in large part to Erika DeSouza playing only three minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. The Dream need to look to establish themselves inside at both ends of the court in the second half.