INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Angel McCoughtry scored 26 points and Iziane Castro Marques added 23 and the Atlanta Dream defeated the Indiana Fever 83-67 on Tuesday night to win the series 2-1 and advance to the WNBA finals for the second straight year.
Lindsey Harding scored 16 points and Sancho Lyttle added 10 points, 11 rebounds and five steals for the Dream. Atlanta will play at Minnesota on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-five series.
Indiana's Tamika Catchings, the WNBA MVP, played despite dealing with pain from plantar fasciitis in her right foot. She had six points, five rebounds and four fouls as a reserve.
Katie Douglas had 16 points and nine rebounds and Tammy Sutton-Brown added 11 points and nine rebounds for top-seeded Indiana.
Atlanta won without starting center Erika de Souza, who left to play for Brazil in an Olympics qualifying tournament in Colombia.
Castro Marques, the Brazilian guard who took de Souza's place in the lineup, made 5 of 7 3-pointers on Tuesday. She scored a season-high 30 points when the Dream beat the Fever 94-77 in Game 2 on Sunday to even the series.
Indiana entered the series known for its defense, but Atlanta took control of the game by shutting Indiana down. The Fever shot 10 for 20 from the field in the first quarter, then 11 for 36 in the middle two periods.
Atlanta led 39-35 at halftime and could have led by more. The Dream made just 7 of 14 free throws in the first half and nearly squandered a nine-point lead in the second quarter.
The Dream started the second half on a 7-0 run that forced two Fever timeouts. Indiana got off few quality shots in that stretch, failing to score for the first 3:54 of the third quarter.
Atlanta continued to roll. Castro Marques hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Dream up 57-39 with 3:11 left in the third quarter. Atlanta led 61-47 at the end of the period.
Atlanta opened the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to extend its lead to 68-49, and the rout was on.
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