Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — It took Angel McCoughtry more than 25 minutes to get going. Once she did, the Atlanta Dream were on their way to their ninth win in 11 games.
McCoughtry scored 12 of her 20 points in the second half, leading the Dream to a 76-68 win over the Indiana Fever on Sunday night. Her 3-pointer with 2:04 left in the game put the Dream (11-4) up for good.
After taking stock of her game at halftime, she wanted to be more engaged in the second half.
"I was just lazy on my shots," McCoughtry said. "Once I get my focus, I can knock anything down. I hit a 3, made a couple of plays to get us going and found my rhythm."
Atlanta appeared to be on the verge of letting the game get away midway through the fourth quarter. Nursing a 65-61 lead, the Dream committed four straight turnovers — two by McCoughtry — that sent Indiana on a 7-0 run for a 68-65 lead with 3:53 left.
Indiana then let its opportunities to grab the win slip away.
Briann January missed a wide-open layup with 3:30 left that would have given Indiana a five-point cushion. Then, with a 68-67 lead and 2:25 on the clock, Karima Christmas missed two free throws that set up McCoughtry for the go-ahead 3-pointer.
With the Dream leading 72-68 with under 43 seconds left, Celine Dumerc blocked Shavonte Zellous' 3-point attempt and then scored in transition, sealing the game for Atlanta.
"Indiana always plays you tough," Dream coach Michael Cooper said. "They gave us all we could handle."
The Fever (6-9) lost their fourth straight game.
Zellous scored 18 points to continue her hot streak for the Fever. She had 33 points against Tulsa on Wednesday and 18 points Friday against Phoenix in narrow defeats.
Sancho Lyttle scored 16 points for Atlanta and Erika de Souza added 12 points and 13 rebounds. Natasha Howard and Marissa Coleman each scored 10 for the Fever.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
