‘Short-Term Memory’: Dallas Wings Fall 86-69 To Atlanta Dream As Rhyne Howard Drops 25 In Fourth-Quarter Pull-Away

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — The Dallas Wings dropped the middle game of their three-game road swing on Friday night, falling 86-69 to the Atlanta Dream at Gateway Center Arena in front of a sellout crowd of 3,626.

Dallas (3-3) shot just 37.8% from the floor, was outrebounded 35-26 and was outscored 23-11 in the fourth quarter as Atlanta (3-1) pulled away late behind a game-high 25 points from Rhyne Howard, who added eight assists, four steals and two blocks on 7-of-12 shooting.

The loss carried echoes of the season’s first meeting on May 12, when Atlanta won 77-72 at College Park Center by controlling the glass 44-34 and snaring 11 offensive rebounds. Head coach Jose Fernandez had identified three priorities entering Friday — limiting Allisha Gray, fixing transition defense and dominating the rebounding margin. Dallas failed on all three.

“We gave up those two big threes,” Fernandez had said before the game. “We’ve got to do a really, really good job on Allisha Gray. Transition defense, stopping the point of attack has been huge. And you have to own the glass.”

Atlanta finished with 14 second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds, 54 points in the paint and 12-of-13 shooting from the free throw line. The Dream shot 54.8% from the floor and turned 17 Wings turnovers into 25 points.

The Wings opened the game ice cold, managing just nine points in the first quarter while Atlanta jumped out to a 19-9 lead. A 22-point second quarter — sparked by an 8-0 run with the Wings’ reserve unit on the floor — cut the deficit to 44-31 at halftime, but Dallas could never fully close the gap.

Asked about his takeaways from the performance, Fernandez pointed to the slow start and Atlanta’s response in the second half.

“Yeah, I mean, we got off to a tough start, right?” Fernandez said. “Ball didn’t get in the basket, just didn’t go in the basket. Down 13 at half, proud how we battled back. We only lead by one, right? They took a timeout, and then they responded with a 6-0 run. And after that, kind of got deflated a little bit. So have short-term memory, move on, go put your attention towards New York.”

The Wings did briefly seize their only lead of the game late in the third quarter at 56-55, but Atlanta closed the period on a run and never trailed again. Asked about how the rotations and momentum shifts shaped the final stretch, Fernandez pointed to a critical sequence out of a timeout.

“You’re up one, right?” Fernandez said. “We get a stop when we come out of the timeout and we run the stagger, stagger, right? The ball goes in from that opposite wing in front of our bench. It’s a different turn of events. But then they came down and they scored. Those three possessions hurt. Three possessions hurt and changed the landscape of the game — being up one, down five — and now shot selection changes a little bit.”

Awak Kuier Delivers Strong Night Off the Bench

The clear bright spot for Dallas was reserve forward Awak Kuier, who turned in her most productive performance of the 2026 season with 16 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, along with four rebounds in 17 minutes.

Kuier was inserted into the rotation specifically to counter Atlanta’s frontcourt size — the same size advantage that produced 16 second-chance points and 16 rebounds for Angel Reese in the first meeting — and responded with a plus-8 in the box score.

Asked about the strategy behind getting her on the floor against Atlanta’s bigger lineup, Kuier said the coaching staff emphasized length and physicality.

“I think it was for sure just to have more length on the court,” Kuier said. “And Coach kept telling me, like, be more tougher and be more physical. So I think that was the reasoning behind that.”

Her late 3-pointer in the fourth quarter briefly gave Dallas life. Asked what was going through her head on the play, Kuier said she lost track of the game clock.

“Well, she passed me the ball, and honestly, I didn’t see the clock,” Kuier said. “I thought it was, like, two seconds left, so I just shot it. But that was, like, six or seven — I was just trying to make sure the ball got there, because I saw it floating.”

Kuier, who has previously played for Reyer Venezia in Italy and Galatasaray in Turkey, said her overseas experience prepared her for the physicality of nights like Friday.

“I think toughness for sure,” Kuier said. “I think just playing against tough players and being in those situations where I have to guard in Europe — let’s say Emma or whoever, big names — I think that helped me a lot to be ready and come here and play at the same level.”

She also stressed the need to balance the confidence boost with continued growth.

“Well, even though I had some good moments, I did have some bad moments too, so I think that’s something that I can learn from,” Kuier said. “Definitely on defense I can be more aggressive and just play more up front. So like she said, short-term memory, but still learn from the mistakes that I did do.”

Fernandez credited her two-way impact while pointing to the breakdowns that limited her stretch on the floor.

“Yeah, their size bothered us,” Fernandez said. “So we had to play Lee, play Akok, right? I thought Akok was very active on both ends of the floor. Her length and athleticism. But what hurt us in that fourth quarter was downhill drives and dribble penetration.”

Reserve guard Odyssey Sims, who finished with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, five assists and two steals in 21 minutes off the bench, was equally complimentary of her teammate when asked what stood out about Kuier’s performance.

“She had a really great game,” Sims said. “I didn’t even see how many points she had, just looked at the box score. I thought she had 20. Felt like she had, like, 25 tonight, to be honest. But I’m just proud of her. As you can see with the team that we have, you never know whose night it’s going to be. Tonight was Kay’s night, and we’re giving her all the praise. Of course, not too much, just because we lost, so that stings a little bit. But of course she played great. She’s a great player, and I just want her to keep it up, keep her confidence high.”

Atlanta Dream’s Size, Efficiency Prove Too Much

Reese posted a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds, picking up where she left off in the first meeting. Gray added 16 points and four rebounds on 7-of-14 shooting, Howard delivered the game’s marquee performance, and Jordin Canada chipped in nine points and six assists. Reserve guard Te-Hina Paopao went a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc for nine points off the bench.

Asked where the defensive breakdowns were most pronounced, Fernandez pointed to Atlanta’s interior efficiency and free throw production.

“They took some high percentage shots, Rob, right in the paint, points in the paint,” Fernandez said. “And they drove it, they got to the free throw line. So they were efficient, especially when they needed to respond, being down one in the fourth.”

On Gray specifically, Fernandez praised her ability to reach her preferred spots.

“Yeah, I mean, you saw it,” Fernandez said. “She’s very good. She’s on the USA national team for a reason. So she got to her spots. She got in the paint when we fouled her, and she was efficient, made all her free throws.”

Dallas Wings Starters Struggle From the Floor

The Dallas starting unit combined to shoot just 10-of-44 (22.7%) from the field. Paige Bueckers, who entered the night riding a 10-game streak of 15-plus points and two-plus assists, was held to seven points, seven assists and three turnovers on 3-of-13 shooting in 31 minutes — snapping the run and marking her lowest scoring output of the season.

Arike Ogunbowale was held to two points on 1-of-11 shooting — including 0-of-5 from beyond the arc — in 25 minutes, a stark drop from her 23-point performance in Wednesday’s win at Chicago.

Jessica Shepard posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but the frontcourt pairing of Shepard and Alanna Smith combined to shoot 6-of-14 with Smith logging just 10 minutes due to foul trouble.

Bueckers was also assessed a technical foul with 1:42 remaining in the third quarter. Asked how much the call shifted the emotional momentum, Fernandez declined to address it directly.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” Fernandez said, “because I don’t want to get fined.”

The reserve unit did most of the damage offensively. Kuier, Sims, Azzi Fudd (7 points, 3 blocks), Aziaha James (6 points, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 rebounds) and Maddy Siegrist (5 points) combined for 48 of the Wings’ 69 points.

Defense, Sense of Urgency the Through-Line

Sims, the veteran voice in the backcourt, said the issue ultimately came back to defensive intensity and effort.

“I mean, it comes down to defense,” Sims said. “We know that, so it’s a matter of just going some more. Our sense of urgency wasn’t there. We showed it in spurts, but we know as a group we just got to be better.”

Asked about the message between the first and second quarters, when the Wings broke out of their scoring drought, Sims pointed to a reserve-unit conversation.

“I think the group that we had in, we just talked amongst each other and just said that we needed to pick up our pace and be a little more scrappy on defense, and that’s what we did,” Sims said. “That’s why we was able to go on that, I think it was like, an 8-0 run.”

Bench Mixing, Heavy Rotations

Fernandez deployed 10 players for at least four minutes as he searched for lineup combinations that could match Atlanta’s size and athleticism. JJ Quinerly was a healthy scratch.

Asked whether the heavy travel and condensed three-games-in-five-days stretch forced him to abandon parts of the game plan, Fernandez said the lineup experimentation reflected the search for any source of momentum.

“Well, I think we did that tonight, right?” Fernandez said. “Because look at the amount of different lineups that we played. We tried to find a spark as Aya came off the bench. Iwoka gave us great minutes, right? Madi. So we tried a lot of different rotations to give us a spark.”

Reflecting on the broader experience of his first weeks running the program, Fernandez framed the priorities heading forward around defense and rebounding while emphasizing his appreciation for the role.

“We have to improve defensively, of course,” Fernandez said. “Defense and rebounding. But it’s a tremendous opportunity to be the Wings’ head coach, and it’s an honor to work every day with the best players in the world.”

Up Next

The Wings close their three-game road trip Sunday afternoon against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center, with less than 48 hours to regroup.

Sims, asked about her message to the team as a veteran backcourt voice heading into the road finale, leaned on the same short-term-memory framing the coaching staff has emphasized all night.

“I think that we got to have short-term memory,” Sims said. “Of course, we’re on the road. We’re one and one right now. We finish up in New York. This was a tough one. We didn’t shoot the ball well, and then we let the game kind of slip away mainly in the fourth quarter. So it’s going back, watching film, seeing what we can correct, but we play New York in less than 48 hours, because we play really early on Sunday, so we got to have short-term memory, focus on our next game, and be better than we were tonight.”

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