On the same day the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream won a playoff game, one of its members was awarded one of the league’s top honors.
Former LSU All-American Angel Reese, the league’s top rebounder, was selected the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press on Sunday.
The Dream, the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, gained a 1-0 advantage in a best-of-three Eastern Conference playoff series with a 92-77 victory over the Washington Mystics at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
After setting a WNBA record with 32 double-doubles during the regular season Reese was one of five players for Atlanta in double figures with 13 points in the first-round playoff game. She had a team-high 12 rebounds to go with two steals and a block.
The series moves to Washington, D.C. at 6 p.m. CT Wednesday where Atlanta can wrap up the series and advance to the quarterfinals which begin Oct. 4. Game 3 is scheduled, if necessary, on Friday at a time to be announced.
Reese became the first player in franchise history to win the coveted defensive honor for Atlanta. The Dream secured a team-best 30 wins in the regular season.
Reese became the second player from LSU to earn the prestigious honor. Naismith Hall of Fame selection Sylvia Fowles was a four-time honoree in 2011, ’13, ’16 and ’21.
Reese, who helped LSU to its first national championship for the 2022-23 season and was the seventh overall choice of the Chicago Sky in the WNBA draft, has made quite an impact in Atlanta in her second season.
She became the first player in the history of the WNBA with 500 rebounds in a season, setting the league mark for total and offensive rebounds.
Her 32 double-doubles were among the standards she established this season along a single-mark of 26 rebounds this season and wound up with a league-high average of 12.3 boards.
Reese earned her third straight berth on the WNBA All-Star team this season and was the member from Atlanta to be named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week in three consecutive weeks.
