McCoughtry leads Dream to WNBA Finals

By Pierce W. Huff

For the AJC

Red, white and blue streamers were draped over the court at Philips Arena, having just fallen from the rafters in a gentle rain, when Dream guard Angel McCoughtry finally got a chance to bask in the moment of her still continuing season.

The Dream are going to the WNBA Finals.

McCoughtry wore a smile on her face as big as her game Tuesday. She tugged on a white Atlanta Dream championship cap. Then she celebrated with her teammates.

Locked in a scorer’s duel for the WNBA ages with noted sharp-shooter Cappie Pondexter, McCoughtry didn’t blink, and neither did her teammates.

McCoughtry scored 42 points, a WNBA playoff record, and had five steals and four assists to lead the Dream to a 105-93 victory to sweep the Eastern Conference series 2-0.

Pondexter scored 36 points, which was the third most in WNBA playoffs history, and had nine assists, but she couldn’t get the ball in the basket enough to extend the Liberty’s season.

“[McCoughtry] was in a great rhythm,” Pondexter said. “She did a great job against us.”

The game secured the first finals appearance for the Dream, an expansion team in its third season.

“This was an awesome performance for the Atlanta Dream,” Dream coach Marynell Meadors said.

In front of a crowd of 9,045, McCoughtry was the star. She made 12 of 20 shots from the field and 17 of 21 free throws.

“We knew we had to have a sense of urgency,” McCoughtry said.

The score was tied at 77 with 8:49 remaining in the game when McCoughtry powered the Dream to victory. She led the team on a 15-8 run, which ended when she made two free throws to make the score 92-85 with 4:07 left in the game.

Pondexter cut the Dream’s lead to 98-93 when she made a jump shot with 1:33 remaining.

But McCoughtry put the game out of reach when she came back with four consecutive points to make the score 102-93 with 1:01 left.

The McCoughtry-Pondexter scoring duel started from the opening tipoff.

McCoughtry scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and had three steals and one block in the first quarter. She made a layup to cap an 8-0 run by the Dream at the beginning of the game. She had a steal and a layup to increase the team’s lead to 26-16.

Dream reserve forward Yelena Leuchanka made a layup with 1.2 seconds remaining in the quarter to make the score 32-21 at the end of the period.

Pondexter scored eight points to lead the Liberty on a 12-6 run at the beginning of the second quarter, which cut the Dream’s lead to 38-33 with 6:22 remaining in the first half.

McCoughtry later sank two free throws to give the Dream a 53-40 lead with 2:25 left.

“She did a great job of attacking our defense,” Pondexter said.

The Dream led 55-44 at halftime. McCoughtry led all first-half scorers with 19 points, which was the second most points she has scored in a half all season. Pondexter scored 17 points, including 12 in the second quarter.

The Liberty began the third quarter with a 14-4 run, which ended on a layup by Taj McWilliams-Franklin, to cut the Dream’s lead to 59-58.

But McCoughtry led the Dream on a 11-5 run to increase the lead to 70-63. But Pondexter made a long 3-pointer from behind the arch to give the Liberty their first lead of the game at 73-71.

Dream forward Sancho Lyttle finished the third-quarter scoring with two free throws to tie the score at 73.

Then came the frantic fourth quarter.