Angel Reese makes WNBA history with dominant performance in Dream win

Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese came back from a gold medal run at the FIBA World Cup and extended her WNBA record Thursday, becoming the first player in league history to post 30 double-doubles in one season.

Reese scored 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds in 25 minutes as the Dream beat the Connecticut Sun 103-59 in College Park, Georgia. It was the first WNBA game after a nearly three-week break for the World Cup.

Angel Reese breaks double-doubles record

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)

Reese already owned the single-season record before Thursday. She broke the mark of 28 double-doubles set by Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas in 2023 when she got her 29th against the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 30.

The 30-point night fell one point shy of her career high, which came in a 31-point, 14-rebound game against the Phoenix Mercury on Aug. 22. The former LSU star did most of her damage early on Thursday, scoring 19 points before halftime.

On Aug. 24, Reese also grabbed 26 rebounds in a 78-71 win over the Los Angeles Sparks , breaking a single-game record that had stood since 2003. That same night, she passed Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson's 2024 total for the most rebounds in a WNBA season .

Atlanta led 45-35 at halftime, but the Dream broke the game open by outscoring Connecticut 31-11 in the third quarter and 27-13 in the fourth.

Dream guard Rhyne Howard set her own WNBA record with 6:45 left, hitting her 129th 3-pointer of the season to pass Sabrina Ionescu 's 2023 mark of 128. Dream guard Allisha Gray added 10 points and broke her own franchise record for points in a season with 782.

"The second half was much better, much more fluid ," Dream head coach Karl Smesko said, per CBS. "Obviously, Angel had a dominant performance tonight. It was fantastic, and everybody contributed all the way down."

"We had a good, hard talk at halftime," Howard said, per CBS. "We're still fighting for something come playoffs, and so we're making sure that we handle our business and that we don't leave anything up to anybody else."

Reese's big night came one day after four-time WNBA champion Tina Thompson pushed her into the WNBA Most Valuable Player race on the "Cousins" podcast with Hall of Famers Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady.

"I also think that Angel needs to be in that conversation. Like, she went there, and that Atlanta team is revived. They're different," Thompson said.

"What Angel Reese does, it impacts winning," Thompson added.

WNBA analyst Nekias Duncan pushed back on social media , pointing out that Atlanta won 30 games and had the league's second-best net rating in 2025, before Reese arrived from the Chicago Sky .

The Dream (27-14) host the Chicago Sky, Reese's former team, on Saturday night. Atlanta is currently the fourth seed for the WNBA playoffs with three games left.