Atlanta — Jasmine Thomas and Chelsea Gray both showed Sunday why the Connecticut Sun made it a point to acquire them.

Gray scored 14 points off the bench and Thomas had 13 points, six assists and seven of Connecticut’s franchise-record 18 steals in a 75-70 WNBA road win over the Atlanta Dream before 8,358 at Philips Arena.

The Sun drafted Gray in the first round (11th overall) last year even though she wouldn’t be able to play after dislocating her right knee cap playing at Duke in Feb. 2014. Connecticut traded for Thomas during April’s draft.

“(Thomas is) such a great defensive player,” Sun coach Anne Donovan said. “We have a nice combination with (rookie) Chelsea (Gray) coming in and giving us 14 points. She gave us such a huge offensive lift and three timely threes (in the second half), and then when she got winded, Jasmine had been given a minute to check out the situation, and she knew what we needed from her was her defense.”

Kelsey Bone had 11 points, five assists and four steals for Connecticut (1-1) and Alex Bentley scored 17.

It was the Sun’s first win at Atlanta in five tries. They won just four road games last season.

Connecticut trailed Atlanta, last year’s Eastern Conference regular-season champion, by as many as 12 points (30-18) with over five minutes left in the first half.

“What I love most about the game is we had to be composed and showed a maturity that kind of belies how young we are,” Donovan said. “We came back from being down and withstood a (late) run.”

Sancho Lyttle had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Dream (0-2).

The Dream tore Connecticut up on the boards as they had an outrageous 51-25 rebounding advantage. They also tied a franchise record for most rebounds in a game.

Connecticut countered with its steals, besting the 17 it had against the Los Angels Sparks on June 1, 2001. It also converted Atlanta’s turnovers into 31 points.

Thomas’ seventh steal put Atlanta down for good. Connecticut led 71-68 with 15.4 seconds left with the Dream inbounding the ball. Thomas stole the pass and was fouled driving to the rim. She made both of her free throws with 12.6 remaining.

Gray gave Connecticut an offensive boost with the Sun trailing 52-45 with over three minutes left in the third quarter. She made a 3-pointer and then stole an inbounds pass 12 seconds later. She drove the length of the court for a layup and was fouled. She made her free throw to cut her team’s deficit to 52-51.

“The combination of (Gray’s) offense and Jas’ defense is a nice luxury to have,” Donovan said.

Bentley’s 3-pointer gave Connecticut a 54-52 lead with 51 seconds left in the quarter. It never gave up that lead.

“I’m really proud of (us) for battling and playing hard,” Bentley said. “Coach Donovan told me during halftime to stay in the game (mentally). I wasn’t making the shots that I usually make early on so she was just making sure my head was straight.”

Thomas started and ended an 8-0 run with over five minutes left in the game. She made a 3-pointer, and then after a 19-foot jumper by Bone, had a steal and a layup to give Connecticut its largest lead (70-59) with 3:38 remaining.

“That three she hit was her only one, but it was huge,” Donovan said. “She’s timely in what she does for us.”

Connecticut returns home Thursday night to face the Chicago Sky at 7 p.m.