INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tangela Smith scored 25 points to lead the Indiana Fever to an 82-74 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Tamika Catchings, announced as the league’s most valuable player earlier in the day, added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Fever.
Atlanta’s Angel McCoughtry, second in the league in scoring during the regular season, was held to 11 points — about 10.5 below her average. She played just 17 minutes and was in foul trouble throughout. Atlanta had swept the regular-season series with the Fever 4-0, and McCoughtry averaged nearly 24 points in those games.
Lindsey Harding scored 17 points and Sancho Lyttle had 14 for the Dream.
Game 2 of the best-of-3 series will be played Sunday in Atlanta.
