Indiana Fever and Seattle Storm tie up the first round series – WNBA Playoffs Update
The playoffs have been in full flow in the past few days. Los Angeles Sparks and the Connecticut Sun have already wrapped up their respective series and are awaiting their opponents in the second round. However, the wait for those two will be a little longer as the two fixtures on Sunday night saw Indiana Fever clinch victory against the Atlanta Dream and the Seattle Storm chalk out a double overtime win over the defending champions Minnesota Lynx.
1. Indiana Fever versus Atlanta Dream
Having already lost Game 1 of the series, Indiana Fever desperately needed to win the second game in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. And they were able to do just exactly that as Tamika Catchings notched up an astounding double-double performance of 25 points and 13 rebounds to help Indiana beat Atlanta 103-88 at the Philips Arena.
Indiana used only 7 players in the game and having 6 of them score in double figures was of great help to their cause. Briann played a good game with 24 points while Erlana Larkins also had a good night with 16 points and 7 rebounds. On the other hand, Angel McCoughtry carried the scoring for Atlanta with 22 points and was provided equal support by Lindsey Harding who chipped in with 17 of her own. However, they were let down by their shooting as they converted only 40.8% of their chances in comparison to the 53.1 percentage from Indiana.
2. Minnesota Lynx versus Seattle Storm
In what was expected to be a blow out series for Minnesota Lynx, the Seattle Storm put up the upset of the playoffs so far by winning 86-79 to tie the series up and ensuring Game 3 needed to be played out.
The game was full of twists and turnarounds. Minnesota started pretty well but was unable to sustain the resilient Seattle side. It was only in the second overtime when the Storm were able to get the better of their opponents.
Sue Bird led the charge with 22 points and 7 assists and was given a helping hand by Tanisha Wright who chipped in with 18 and 7 figures of her own. Both these players had the last say in the ball game as well as Bird knocked down a triple on an assist from Wright to finish proceedings.
From the other side, Rebekkah Brunson led the scoring with 22 points and 15 rebounds while Seimone Augustus provided equal support with 20 points. However, their lack of rhythm and a shooting percentage of only 32.5% turned out to be the main cause for their defeat.
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