The Dream beat the Valkyries 80-69 to force the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history

The Atlanta Dream stayed alive Thursday afternoon. They beat the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 in Game 6 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena, tying the series 3-3 and setting up the first Game 7 in Finals history.

Allisha Gray led Atlanta with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and she made five of her seven 3-point attempts. She added six rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, according to the ESPN box score and the WNBA.

The Dream settled it early. They scored 32 points in the first quarter and held Golden State to 15, then stretched the lead to 25. Atlanta shot 13 of 30 from 3-point range, while the Valkyries went 22 of 70 from the field and 7 of 27 from deep.

Golden State made a late push. Laeticia Amihere's free throws cut the deficit to 77-66 with 1:57 left, according to Atlanta News First. Gray answered with a corner 3 with 56 seconds remaining, and ESPN reported she turned to the crowd and roared as it fell. That was the game.

The series has swung hard. Atlanta took a 2-1 lead with a 97-71 rout in Game 3, then Golden State won Game 4 by a 67-62 score in Atlanta and Game 5 by 64-55 at home. The Dream scored 55 and 62 in those two losses. They scored 80 on Thursday.

Rhyne Howard scored 21 points with four 3-pointers. Angel Reese had 15 points, 14 rebounds and six assists for her fourth double-double of the series, though she shot 5 of 18. Jordin Canada added 10 points.

Gabby Williams kept Golden State close for as long as anyone could, scoring 26 points on 8-of-22 shooting. Tiffany Hayes added 15, and Amihere grabbed 10 rebounds. Veronica Burton went 2 for 13, and Cecilia Zandalasini was 3 of 12.

The Dream bounced back after their two lowest-scoring games of the Finals, both losses. This one came in a 12:30 p.m. ET start that Atlanta's ownership had complained about publicly. The game was moved to the Hawks' arena for the bigger crowd, and a sellout of 17,099 showed up on a Thursday afternoon.

"Everybody came out super confident and anybody that got in played with an effort that you could see we were the best," Reese said, per ESPN.

What's next: Game 7 is Saturday at 8 p.m. ET at Chase Center in San Francisco on USA Network and Peacock. Golden State gets the home floor. Atlanta gets a shooting night like this one to carry with it, and it needs Gray and Howard to do it again.