Desperately needing to snap a losing skid, the Atlanta Dream hope their extended time off pays dividends when they host the Seattle Storm on Thursday in College Park, Ga.

Atlanta (12-9) enters the matchup riding a five-game losing streak — its longest since an eight-game stretch in 2024. The Dream haven’t played since July 4, when an 88-83 home loss to the Golden State Valkyries prolonged a forgettable two-week slide.

Second-year head coach Karl Smesko’s team shot less than 40% from the field in four of its five losses while averaging 78 points per game across the losing streak. The Dream had eclipsed the 100-point mark in three of its last four games before the bleak stretch. The first four losses came on the road.

“I think everybody on our team still has a pretty high level of confidence,” Smesko said. “I think we understand that we’ve gone through a little bit of a shooting dip and that we’re more than capable of hitting a higher percentage of shots that we’re getting.”

Rhyne Howard’s 18.9 points per game lead the Dream while Allisha Gray adds 18.5. Angel Reese provides 14.9 points and a league-best 11.8 rebounds per contest.

Meanwhile, Seattle (6-17) has begun to see its luck change following a woeful start to the season. Following an 11-game losing streak, the Storm have won three of their last five. That includes the 82-64 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Monday that improved Seattle’s league-worst road record to 2-9.

For head coach Sonia Raman, the Storm’s defensive mentality will be the deciding factor in continuing the team’s momentum during the second leg of a five-game road trip.

“We really want to make our identity on that side of the floor because it’s going to fuel us on the other end, big time,” Raman said. “I think (Monday) was a really good step forward. It’s just another step in our season.”

Dominique Malonga paces Seattle with 15.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game over 15 contests, followed by Natisha Hiedeman’s 15.4 scoring average over 23 games.

First-round pick Flau’jae Johnson (12.7 ppg) has scored at least 23 points in three of Seattle’s last five outings. The Storm won those three games, but lost the ones where the rookie guard managed one and 11 points.

–Field Level Media

Dylan Cease came within three outs of becoming the first Toronto Blue Jay in 36 years to throw a no-hitter Wednesday afternoon, striking out 11 in a 10-0 road victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Kazuma Okamoto capped a five-run first inning with a grand slam and center fielder Daulton Varsho prevented an extra-base hit by the Giants’ Bryce Eldridge with a leaping catch on the center-field warning track in the eighth, each helping Cease’s cause.

The All-Star right-hander retired the first 14 Giants he faced until losing his perfect game by walking Willy Adames with two outs in the fifth.

Cease (6-4) also walked Drew Gilbert leading off the sixth and Rafael Devers with one out in the seventh, but breezed through a 1-2-3 eighth with Tyler Rogers warming up, earning a shot at the ninth despite having thrown 115 pitches.

Home runs by Vlad Guerrero Jr., his fifth, and George Springer, his ninth, added three runs to the Toronto total in the top of the ninth, giving Cease a long rest before continuing his quest.

Attempting to match the feat of Dave Stieb in September of 1990, the only previous no-hitter in Blue Jays history, Cease went 1-1 on Heliot Ramos before the Giants outfielder lined a fastball up the middle. Ramos had struck out his previous three times.

Cease was pulled at that point, having walked three and recorded his sixth double-digit strikeout performance of the season.

No opponent has ever pitched a no-hitter in the 27-year history of Oracle Park.

Rogers retired all three men he faced after taking over for Cease, wrapping up Toronto’s sixth shutout of the season.

The first six Blue Jays hitters gave their pitcher all the support he would need against Giants starter Logan Webb (5-7).

Singles by Ernie Clement and Nathan Lukes, and a one-out walk to Springer, loaded the bases for Varsho, who blooped an RBI single into right field.

Okamoto then took Webb high and deep the opposite way, landing his 21st home run atop the 20-foot-high wall in right field at Oracle Park. The hit was reviewed and Okamoto, who had stopped at first base, was sent the remaining 270 feet for a grand slam and a 5-0 lead.

Lukes, Varsho and Okamoto each had two hits and scored twice for the Blue Jays, who improved to 3-3 on their nine-game Western swing.

Webb rebounded from his rough start to serve up just one more hit through the seventh inning, finishing with five runs and five hits allowed. He walked two and struck out two.

–Field Level Media

After Egypt coach Hossam Hassan outlined several complaints in the immediate aftermath of Argentina’s come-from-behind 3-2 win in the round of 16 on Tuesday, the Egyptian Football Foundation followed up on Wednesday with two statements amplifying their country’s issues with the officiating.

The second statement revealed that EFA president Hany Abou Rida filed a formal complaint with FIFA “demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup.”

As part of the complaint, Egypt “demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes.”

Egypt led 2-0 late in the second half before Argentina reeled off three goals in a 13-minute stretch to advance to the quarterfinals.

That late lead could have been 3-0, but Egypt had a goal in the 58th minute disallowed after a VAR replay discerned an Egypt foul against an Argentina player shortly before the goal.

“The Egyptian Football Association cannot remain silent,” the first statement began, “regarding the refereeing decisions witnessed during the match against Argentina as well as the failure to make appropriate use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system.

“Several key incidents raised serious concerns and left profound questions about the consistency and fairness of decisions that directly influenced the course of the game.

“A number of football experts and specialist analysts, both locally and internationally, have highlighted controversial and influential refereeing incidents during the match. This underlines the importance of maintaining the highest standards of integrity, fairness, and transparency in match officiating, particularly in a competition of the stature and significance of the FIFA World Cup 2026.”

Hassan’s translated words after Tuesday’s match put Egypt’s opinion more bluntly.

“There was neither respect nor fair play today,” Hassan said. “Argentina’s victory is entirely undeserved.”

Argentina play Switzerland in the quarterfinals on Saturday in Kansas City.

–Field Level Media