With No. 6-seeded Indiana on the brink of elimination from the 2025 WNBA Playoffs in their best-of-three first-round series vs. No. 6-seed Atlanta, the Fever destroyed the Dream through a complete team effort en route to a 77-60 victory on Tuesday night from Gainbridge Fieldhouse to force a decisive Game 3 back in Atlanta.
Leading the Fever offensively was Kelsey Mitchell, who posted 19 points on 6-for-13 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line in 29 minutes of action. Behind Mitchell, Aliyah Boston also added 15 points, Natasha Howard had 12 points, and Makayla Timpson had nine points off the bench.
Despite the Fever never trailing in the contest, the most pivotal moment of the night came late in the third quarter when Shey Peddy stole an inbound pass intended for Dream forward Naz Hillman, which led to Lexie Hull draining a wide-open three-pointer to make it a 59-44 score entering the final period.
Some of the critical factors for Indiana’s cruise to a Game 2 victory were their ability to hit critical shots early and maintain that consistency throughout the game, while holding one of the best perimeter shooting teams in the league in check.
Advertisement
Indiana flipped the script from Game 1 by limiting Atlanta to just 1-for-10 from the deep in the first half and holding the Dream to only 5-for-19 from 3-point range in the entire 40 minutes.
With the best-of-three series extended to a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday, Indiana will look to secure their first series victory since 2015 and advance to the WNBA semifinals to play either Las Vegas or Seattle.
Thursday’s Game 3 will start at 6:30 p.m. CT from Gateway Center in College Park, Georgia, and be broadcast on ESPN2.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews
Advertisement
This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Indiana Fever blowout Atlanta Dream, force decisive Game 3 on Thursday
