The home crowd at Gateway Center Arena cheered loudly for the Dream in their first game back since the Olympics break on Friday night.
And Dream star Rhyne Howard made some noise of her own by dropping 30 points, with eight rebounds and two assists, in an 83-81 win over the Seattle Storm.
Howard made a string of threes in the third quarter, giving the team a boost of confidence it needed.
“I think Rhy (Howard) did an amazing job of keeping things calm for everybody, keeping things poised,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said. “Obviously she took over in the third quarter.”
Howard earned a bronze medal for the USA in the Paris Olympics on the 3-on-3 team. The momentum from the games carried over right back to the WNBA for Howard.
“They allow a lot more in 3-on-3 but being able to have the conditioning to go through that and battle like I know teams are going to be physical with me, so being able to have the conditioning, have the mental and physical capacity to continue to have success in this league,” she said.
Howard made three 3-pointers in a 63-second span to bridge the gap for the Dream to 49-44 with 5:20 left in the third quarter. Howard made 5 of 6 from the field and scored 14 points in the quarter as the Dream cut the Storm’s lead to 60-55 entering the fourth.
Howard’s 30 points marked both a season-high and the fourth time in her career that she’s scored 30 or more points, which is tied for second-most in Dream history.
“She was just in an amazing zone. ... I kept telling her to keep going because only a few can really get in that type of zone,” teammate Tina Charles said. “It was great to be on the floor with her, to see that and witness that. The future is really bright in our league and it’s because of Rhyne Howard.”
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