Tuesday’s game between the Atlanta Dream and Minnesota Lynx got off to a slow start favoring the Dream. However, with 8 lead changes by the end of the 1st half and Lynx in the lead, 31 to 24, no one knew who had the game in the bag.

At the beginning of the 3rd quarter it seemed as though the Dream would be celebrating their first win. The momentum started when the ball was stolen from the Lynx and passed to Tamera Young, who started for the 1st time. Tamera raced down the court, made the lay-up and was fouled. Maintaining her perfect free-throw percentage, she landed the shot and finished up the beautiful 3 point play which seemed to be the Dream’s breaking point from their performance in the 2nd quarter of only scoring 6 points.

Once again losing their drive toward the end of the 3rd quarter and beginning of the 4th, the win seemed far from possible. Maybe the loss of enthusiasm came from the somewhat questionable official calls against the Dream. Whether possessions were believed to be incorrectly granted to the Lynx or fouls improperly called against the Dream, the fans eagerly waited for the Dream to overturn the bad karma. However, it was blatantly obvious that the fans were upset with the calls when they started yelling “Boo” as Minnesota’s Camille Little was called for a block when it was believed the call should have been an offensive foul.

With 2 minutes to go until the end of the game, the Dream started showing the fans exactly why they came. Atlanta’s Betty Lennox hit three 3’s giving them a lead that got the crowd standing on their feet. To top the excitement, Atlanta’s Ivory Latta took an offensive foul giving Atlanta position and power over the game. At 59.5 seconds left on the clock Atlanta’s Jennifer Lacy is fouled and lands both shots to tie the Game at 78. The Lynx called a time out and managed to come back in the game and take control and win it all 85 to 81.

Fundamentally and athletically the Atlanta Dream is a great team. When asked “What will it take to finally get a win?” Coach Meadors replied that it will only take time for the players to mature. She just hopes that the Dream’s fans keep coming because once they get their first win they’ll be on their way to a successful season.

The Dream’s next match-up is June 6, 2008 against the Chicago Sky at Philips Arena. Shayla Forrest is the WNBA Atlanta Dream Sports correspondent for FTC Publications, Inc.