Minnesota Lynx beat Atlanta Dream 101-95; Take a 2-0 series lead in WNBA Finals – Part 2
Erika de Souza put up disappointing performance after her return from FIBA Americas Championship for women. The star Brazilian player proved to be a big letdown and managed just 8 points and 10 rebounds.
Minnesota Lynx shot 50 percent (30 for 60) from the field, including 42.9 percent (3 for 7) from three-point range and 82.6 percent (38 for 46) from free throw line. Atlanta Dream, on the other hand, shot only 44.7 percent (34
for 76) from the floor, including 40.0 percent (6 for 15) from downtown, and 65.6 percent (21 for 32) from the line.
Minnesota scored the first five points of the opening period. Atlanta’s forward Angel McCoughtry immediately responded with three points and Sancho Lyttle followed her with a lay-up to knot the game at 5-5.
After both teams had played evenly till early, a 19-15 Atlanta stretch separated them with nearly a minute to go. Adair hit a pair of free throws at that point and trimmed Lynx deficit to two, 24-22, with 52 seconds to go.
Lindsey Harding however made good on Atlanta’s final two possessions, giving her team a six-point lead, 28-22, lead at the end of the first.
The Eastern Conference Champions then opened the second period on a 4-0 run and pushed their lead to a game-high 10, 32-22 early. However, Lynx responded swiftly with seven straight points, cutting Atlanta’s lead to three, 32-29.
The Lynx surge did not halt Atlanta though as they pulled off a 20-13 phase in the next couple of minutes to stretch their lead back to double digits, 52-42. Wright and Augustus hit jumpers to make it a six-point contest, 52-46,
with 01:22 left in the second quarter, but Atlanta went 6-4 to close out the half at 58-50.
McCoughtry finished the half with 12 points.
Trailing by eight points at halftime, Lynx opened the third quarter on a 10-5 run to cut the deficit to 63-60 with 04:04 left in the quarter. McCoughtry however once again propelled her team and scored next eight points of the
third period while Castro Marques followed her with a jumper to make it 73-64. Lynx were able to cut into the lead though and the third ended with Dream leading at 74-69.
Just like in game-1, Minnesota made quick inroads early in the fourth quarter. They successfully erased their deficit early and tied the game at 74. Dream answered back with an 11-7 run to go up 85-81, but were blown away by 10
unanswered points in the next two and half minutes. Minnesota did not trail for rest of the period and sealed their second consecutive victory of the series, putting the visiting team in a must-win position in game-3.
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