Atlanta Dream beat Golden State Valkyries in Game 3, take 2-1 lead in WNBA Finals

Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream are halfway toward their ultimate goal of winning the franchise's first WNBA championship.

They know there is still work to do. But with a huge Atlanta crowd behind them and Reese dominating the last two games, there's reason to believe in a team that never even had a WNBA Finals win until this series.

Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds to help the Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 97-71 on Wednesday night and take a 2-1 lead. It was the second straight strong game for Reese, who had 30 points and 16 rebounds in Game 2, which the Dream also won for their first victory ever in the championship round. She has a double-double in each game of the finals.

“It feels good when you’re in the finals. It’s a long season and you play against everybody and go through and push through, but when you can do it at the highest level, this is what you live for, this is what the offseason is for," Reese said. "I put the work in for this moment and I’m just happy I could lead the team to a win. We’re feeling good going into Saturday.”

That game will also be played at State Farm Arena. Both games in Atlanta were originally set for the Gateway Center Arena, where the Dream play most of their home games. The league was able to work with the Atlanta Hawks to play Games 3 and 4 there so that they could have a much bigger crowd. Gateway only seats 3,500. State Farm Arena can seat more than 17,000 fans.

And they made a difference.

“Protect home court,” said Atlanta's Rhyne Howard, who had 16 points and five steals. “Giving our fans a show. We fought for this arena so we had to protect it. It’s big. We went and stole one but we can’t let them come in and do the same thing.”

Angel Reese helps Dream even WNBA