Photo Credit: Atlanta Dream/Instagram
By: Jennifer Portee
Angel Reese scored 23 points, Naz Hillmon hit a layup with 20.8 seconds left in overtime, and the Atlanta Dream defeated the New York Liberty 101-98 on Wednesday night to grab a 2-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals.
Atlanta is one win from reaching its first WNBA Finals since 2013, and it got there without Allisha Gray.
The Dream’s leading scorer missed the game with a left-hand injury, forcing Atlanta to spread out the workload. Reese and Jordin Canada carried much of it. Canada matched Reese with 23 points and handed out eight assists, while rookie Izzy Borlase had 11 points off the bench in the biggest game of her young career.
Reese was especially sharp once the game moved beyond regulation. She scored six of Atlanta’s 13 overtime points, operating through traffic, earning trips to the line and staying involved after New York briefly tried to take control.
The Dream scored the first five points of overtime, but the Liberty answered with eight straight to take a 96-93 lead. Canada cut into it. Reese followed with another basket. Breanna Stewart answered for New York, but Hillmon made the play Atlanta needed, getting to the rim for the layup that put the Dream ahead for good.
New York had two chances to answer in the final seconds. Atlanta forced a jump ball on the Liberty’s first possession after Hillmon’s basket. New York won the tip, but Sabrina Ionescu’s pass sailed away, putting Reese on the line with 4.3 seconds remaining. She made both free throws.
Stewart’s long heave at the horn was off the mark.
“We really stayed together and played together, and that’s how we won,” Reese said.
New York nearly pulled it out before overtime. The Liberty trailed 86-80 with less than two minutes left when Ionescu drilled a deep 3-pointer. Stewart then scored in traffic after an Atlanta shot-clock violation to pull New York within 86-85.
Reese calmly knocked down two free throws with 14.5 seconds left, giving Atlanta an 88-85 lead. Marine Fauthoux answered with a 3-pointer with 10.3 seconds to go, tying the game and sending it toward overtime after Rhyne Howard’s floater bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Stewart was relentless for the Liberty, finishing with 35 points after scoring 25 in the first half. She kept New York within reach all night, but the Liberty could not get the one stop or clean final possession they needed in overtime.
Dream coach Karl Smesko credited Atlanta’s late-game execution, particularly after the Liberty’s run in overtime.
“We thought we could be the best team over the last five minutes,” Smesko said. “Everybody was locked in on what those plays were, and they went out there and executed them.”
Atlanta had already won Game 1, 92-82, and now heads to New York with a chance to close out the series Friday. The Liberty, meanwhile, are in survival mode.
“We’re not focused on winning three games straight right now,” Stewart said. “We’re focused on winning one game, and that’s Friday.”