Kelsey Mitchell scored 19 points, Aliyah Boston had 15 and the Indiana Fever avoided elimination by defeating the Atlanta Dream 77-60 in Game 2 of their best-of-three playoff series Tuesday night in Indianapolis.
Natasha Howard added 12 points and the sixth-seeded Fever never trailed in forcing a decisive Game 3 on Thursday night in Atlanta.
Te-Hina Paopao scored 11 points off the bench and Rhyne Howard had 10 to lead the third-seeded Dream, who won the series opener 80-68 on their home court on Sunday.
Mitchell’s 3-pointer started the third-quarter scoring to give the Fever a 38-29 lead, but Naz Hillmon made consecutive layups to get the Dream within 40-37. Boston canned a 27-foot 3-pointer in the middle of a 7-0 run that increased Indiana’s lead to 47-37.
Rhyne Howard made two free throws to stop the run, but the Fever scored the final seven points to extend their lead to 59-44 at the end of the third quarter.
Makayla Timpson’s three-point play started the fourth-quarter scoring. Boston followed with a layup and Odyssey Sims added a 3-pointer to cap the 14-0 spree that put Indiana in command with a 67-44 lead.
The score was tied three times in the early going before Mitchell made a 3-pointer to give the Fever a 9-6 lead. She scored five more points and the lead grew to 17-10 as the Dream made just one field goal in a 4 1/2-minute stretch.
Brionna Jones and Allisha Gray made consecutive field goals for the Dream before Shey Peddy’s 3-pointer gave Indiana a 20-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Rhyne Howard’s jumper started the second-quarter scoring and she added one of two free throws to get Atlanta within three points. But the Dream made just one field goal during the next seven-plus minutes, which helped the Fever expand the lead to 30-19 on consecutive layups by Natasha Howard.
Naz Hillmon made consecutive layups and Rhyne Howard added another to get the Dream within five points. Indiana rebuilt the lead to 10 before Gray’s 3-pointer beat the buzzer and trimmed the lead to 35-29 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
