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Sports · Basketball

Reese’s Dream Lead The WNBA Finals 2–1; Game 4 Is Saturday In Atlanta

Angel Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds in Atlanta’s 97–71 Game 3 win over Golden State — her third straight Finals double-double, a first in WNBA history — and the Dream are two wins from the franchise’s first championship.

By Davies Daily Staff Reports · Friday, October 23, 2026

Angel Reese, pictured with the Chicago Sky in 2024; she was traded to Atlanta in April. Photo: John Mac, CC BY-SA 2.0 — via Wikimedia Commons.

The Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 97–71 on Wednesday night to take a 2–1 lead in the WNBA Finals. Angel Reese led Atlanta with 21 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals, shooting 7-of-12, making both of her three-pointers and all five of her free throws in 34 minutes.

Reese is the first player in WNBA history with a double-double in each of her first three Finals games, and, at 24, the youngest ever with three straight Finals double-doubles. Her Finals averages are 21.7 points and 13.3 rebounds. Afterward she said: “When you can do it at the highest level, this is what I live for… I’m just happy I can lead the team to a win and we’re feeling good going into Saturday.” Atlanta is 14–0 this season when Reese makes a three-pointer.

Rhyne Howard added 16 points and five steals for Atlanta, Naz Hillmon scored 15 and Jordin Canada had 10 points and eight assists. The Dream shot 49 percent and won the paint 44–20. Golden State, which shot 35 percent, got 15 points from Williams, 14 from Tiffany Hayes and 13 from Janelle Salaün.

The Finals so far

  • Game 1 (Sat., San Francisco): Valkyries 68, Dream 64
  • Game 2 (Mon., San Francisco): Dream 79, Valkyries 65 — Reese 30 points, 16 rebounds
  • Game 3 (Wed., Atlanta): Dream 97, Valkyries 71 — Reese 21 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals
  • Reese: a double-double in each of her first three Finals games, a WNBA first
  • Game 4: Saturday, 1 p.m. ET, State Farm Arena, Atlanta (NBC/Peacock); the series is best-of-seven

The series opened in San Francisco: Golden State won Game 1 on Saturday, 68–64, and Atlanta took Game 2 on Monday, 79–65, behind Reese’s 30 points and 16 rebounds. The Finals are best-of-seven.

Reese arrived in Atlanta in an April 6 trade from Chicago, which drafted her seventh overall in 2024. She led the league in rebounding in both of her Sky seasons while Chicago missed the playoffs twice; the price was Atlanta’s 2027 and 2028 first-round picks. This season she set league records with 521 total rebounds — the first player ever to reach 500 in a season — and 206 offensive rebounds, recorded 32 double-doubles, averaged 16.4 points and a league-high 12.1 rebounds, and on October 1 was named the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year with 46 of 74 votes, the first Dream player ever to win the award. Atlanta finished 30–14 as the No. 4 seed.

Game 4 is Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, on NBC and Peacock. Atlanta is two wins from the first championship in franchise history; the Dream are 0-for-3 in previous Finals, last appearing in 2013. Golden State, a second-year expansion team, reached the Finals by sweeping the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals.

Sources: Associated Press; ESPN; WNBA.

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