The
Fever scored the first six points of overtime and four players scored
in double figures in an 82-77 victory. Indiana snapped a three-game
losing streak to start the season, which included an 90-88, double
overtime loss at home to the Dream May 17. That day, the Fever missed a
potential go-ahead 3-pointer in the first overtime and a potential
winning three with a second to play in the second extra session. Sunday
was a much different story.
Erlana
Larkins and Briann January each converted a lay up and Sydney Carter
hit a wild, banked-in jumper that made it 74-68 1:16 into overtime.
Atlanta, the defending Eastern Conference champions which after starting
the year 2-0 have dropped two straight, got to within 74-70 on the last
of Jasmine Thomas’ 17 points. But another lay up, this time by Natasha
Howard, and Larkins’ basket off a turnover gave the visitors some
breathing room at 78-71 with 1:50 to go.
“(In overtime) I thought we were more fresh,” said Indiana coach Lin Dunn.
Larkins
had a monster game on the boards, collecting a franchise-record 22
rebounds, two of which immediately proceeded a pair of 1 of 2 trips to
the free-throw line and put Indiana ahead 80-74. With Atlanta climbing
to within 80-77 late on a 3-pointer by the Dream’s leading scorer Angel
McCoughtry (game-high 19 points), Carter hit two from the charity stripe
to seal the road victory.
“We
could’ve won the game in regulation if we had just hit our free
throws,” said Dunn, whose team was 20 of 30 from the stripe in the first
four quarters of play. “It was a real grind for each team to score.”
With
just over four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, McCoughtry nailed
a 3-pointer that gave Atlanta its first lead since six and a half
minutes remained in the third at 68-66.
January
(team-high 16 points) had a beautiful, reverse lay up to even things up
at 68-68 at the two-minute mark. Those were the last points of
regulation, though Carter had a chance to give Indiana the lead with
1:18 to play, but missed two free throws, and Thomas missed a lay up
with 27 seconds left, while the Dream’s final shot, taken by McCoughtry
with 2.8 seconds left, wasn’t close.
It
was no more than a five-point cushion for Indiana for nearly the entire
third quarter until Karima Christmas capped a quick, 6-0 run with a
three-point play that put the visitors ahead 63-55 at the 1:12 mark.
Thomas
polished off a fine stretch as the third-year guard from Duke had a
three-point play and a long jumper in the corner for five of her 11
third-quarter points that got the Dream to within 64-60 heading into the
final period.
Atlanta
led by as much as five points in the opening quarter and still led
23-19 after an Erika de Souza lay up 15 seconds into the second quarter.
The
Dream went three and a half minutes without a point, and Indiana’s 9-0
run - three different players made baskets including January’s 3-pointer
during the spurt - and the Fever led 28-23 with 6:20 to go in the half.
Thanks
in large part to Sancho Lyttle, who had a pair of jumpers as part of a
10-point opening half, Atlanta took the lead back briefly at 31-30 with
four minutes to go. Indiana
reasserted itself over the final stretch of the half getting a
3-pointer from January and Larkins’ conventional three-point play to go
into the halftime locker room up 39-35.
The Fever will host Connecticut Thursday, while Atlanta entertains Seattle Friday at 7:30 p.m.
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