Atlanta — The Connecticut Sun are fouling too much this WNBA season, even during their hot start.

Foul troubles were among the many problems Connecticut had against the Atlanta Dream on Friday night.

The Sun shot poorly, turned it over too many times, and were nearly doubled-up on free throw attempts as they lost their fourth straight game, 75-70, before 4,047 at McCamish Pavilion.

Connecticut led 50-37 with four minutes, 59 seconds left in the third quarter.

Renee Montgomery’s 3-pointer gave the Dream their largest lead, 71-56, with 3:15 remaining in the game.

The Sun (7-5) made just two field goals during that stretch and turned it over 10 times.

Remember, this was a team that scored 101-or-more in three of their first four games and averaged a league-high 90.6 points prior to Friday’s game.

“We played a great first quarter,” Connecticut’s Chiney Ogwumike said, “but then, as the game settled in, we sort of lost ourselves.”

The Sun were also on the wrong end of foul calls. Again. They were whistled 35 times to 21 for Atlanta.

The Dream made 27 of 41 free throws. That would be one off the mark for the most free throw attempts by a team in a game this season, according to National Statistical. The Dallas Wings shot 42 in a 101-78 win over Atlanta on May 20.

“They (the Dream) were terrific when they got calls and just killed us at the foul line,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said. “The differential at the foul line was insane.”

The Sun led the league in opponent free throw attempts prior to the game.

Jonquel Jones (seven rebounds), Connecticut’s starting center, fouled out in under 17 minutes.

Asked about the game’s biggest takeaway, Miller said, “We have to be able to get officials not to call fouls.”

Angel McCoughtry scored 25 with eight rebounds for Atlanta (7-6), which shot just 37.7 percent.

“We probably have the market cornered on ugly wins,” said Dream head coach Nicki Collen, who was Miller’s assistants the previous two seasons in Connecticut. “There’s no doubt that this wasn’t pretty, though in that stretch in the fourth quarter, it looked kind of pretty at the end.

“Even (when) we were down, we kept fighting. I thought we had a lot of playbook murder going on early — just really not getting into our sets, not consistently getting the shots we wanted or we were too slow to get into our actions — but I thought we battled defensively all night.”

Reserve Brittney Sykes, who had missed the previous five games to injury, scored 11 of her 13 points at the free throw line for the Dream. Starting guard Tiffany Hayes (17.9 ppg) missed her second straight game due to a left ankle injury.

Reserve Alex Bentley scored a team-high 18 with four assists for the Sun.

Ogwumike, who missed the last game due to a knee injury, had 16 points and six rebounds.

Starting point guard Jasmine Thomas struggled as much as anyone for the Sun. She missed 11 of 13 shots and scored 13 with four assists and two steals.

It was Connecticut’s third straight game without starting forward Alyssa Thomas (12 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 4.2 apg). She injured her shoulder during the first game of the Sun’s losing streak, a 95-91 loss to the Washington Mystics on June 20.

“We just have to play harder and do the little things better,” Ogwumike said. “I think we’re still trying to figure out how to play without AT. AT is a big pusher for us. She created shots for a lot of people, and we’re going to have to just figure it out slowly but surely. I think it’s the little things, you know, working harder on defense, getting stops, and making these stops convert.”