Dream-Fever Preview

By MIKE LIPKA
Posted Aug 18 2012 1:02AM

With their top interior presence back to complement the WNBA's leading scorer, the Atlanta Dream may be poised to make another push in the second half.

They also may find the Indiana Fever in their way again.

Angel McCoughtry, Erika de Souza and the Dream look to gain ground on the Fever when these Eastern Conference rivals meet Saturday night in Indianapolis.

Even with McCoughtry's prolific numbers and the team coming off an appearance in the WNBA finals, Atlanta (10-10) was under .500 before the Olympics, in part because McCoughtry missed six games due to injury.

De Souza wasn't available at all because she was preparing for the London Games with the Brazilian national team. She rejoined the Dream for their return from the break Friday at Chicago, scoring 19 points to support McCoughtry's 25 in an 82-76 win.

"It was more than just her points tonight," guard Lindsey Harding said of de Souza. "It was her defense. ... We need that big, center presence and I feel like we were missing that in the first half of the season."

McCoughtry, averaging 22.8 points, also had eight rebounds, six assists and five steals.

The Fever (11-7) are hopeful they have an inside force to make an impact down the stretch, too. They resumed play Thursday with an 84-66 win over Washington, and their surprising scoring leader was Erlana Larkins, who had a career-high 16 points in just 20 minutes off the bench while grabbing seven rebounds - four at the offensive end.

The forward, who hadn't played in the WNBA since 2009 before joining Indiana this year, was 4 of 6 from the field and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line, earning high praise from her teammates.

"I think Erlana is the one who's setting the standard and raising the bar," guard Erin Phillips told the Fever's official website. "It's influencing the whole team."

Indiana would like to influence Atlanta's fate in 2012. The Fever were eliminated at home by the Dream in Game 3 of the East finals last year after going 0-4 in the regular-season series.

They've won two of the first three meetings this year, although Atlanta took the most recent matchup 70-58 at home June 26, holding Indiana to 30.6 percent shooting.

McCoughtry has tormented the Fever and drawn jeers from the Indianapolis crowd, averaging 23.7 points in her last nine games in the series including playoffs.

Her U.S. Olympic teammate, Indiana's Tamika Catchings, was limited by plantar fasciitis during last year's postseason series, but she has averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in her team's two victories over the Dream this year. The reigning league MVP had 14 points and 14 rebounds Thursday.

Douglas scores 29 to lead Fever past Dream

Posted Aug 18 2012 10:11PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Katie Douglas scored a season-high 29 points to lead the Indiana Fever to an 86-72 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Saturday night.

Tamika Catchings had 17 points and nine rebounds to help the Fever (12-7) win for the second time in three days since the WNBA resumed play following the monthlong Olympic break. Briann January added 13 points and Shavonte Zellous 11.

Douglas shot 11 for 17 from the field, including 7 for 9 from beyond the arc - tying her career high and the franchise record for 3-pointers made.

``It's about time,'' Douglas said. ``It's a good feeling. This morning I definitely wasn't shooting it well. But definitely in warmups, I felt really, really good. Really loose. ... My teammates just found a way to get me the ball and I was able to step up and knock down shots. And that's my role.''

Douglas, who had the previous team record of six 3s, scored 15 points in the first half to help the Fever take a 46-33 lead at halftime.

``Katie was hot,'' Fever coach Lin Dunn. ``We started calling her number and calling any plays we could think of to get her threes.''

Angel McCoughtry scored 22 points on 8-for-19 shooting to lead the Dream (10-11). Rookie guard Tiffany Hayes had 13 points and Lindsey Harding added 12.

``The Fever have a tough offense and (Douglas) shot really well against us,'' Dream coach Marynell Meadors said. ``We just weren't very strong mentally tonight.''

McCoughtry added, ``We just came out flat.''

McCoughtry had four points on 2-for-7 shooting in the first half.

``They were a hard 22 points,'' Dunn said. ``Nothing came easy for her. ... That's about the best we can do with her. She's just that good.''

Fever forward Shavonte Zellous added, ``My goal was to limit Angel's touches tonight. She got off at the end a little bit.''

Zellous admitted she was pumped up for the game a little more than usual.

``The last two years Atlanta knocked us out the playoffs,'' she said. ``We kind of have a thing against them.''

The Fever jumped out to a 20-7 lead with a 13-3 run in the first quarter. Douglas made three jumpers to put the Dream in a hole that it never recovered from. The Dream shot 22.2 percent from the field in the opening 10 minutes and the Fever never trailed.

The Fever made 12 or more 3s for the fifth time this season after accomplishing the feat just three times in the franchise's previous 12 years.

Catchings' five assists moved her to eighth on the WNBA's all-time list with 1,207.

• Dream: --
• Fever: --

• Dream: --
• Fever: Zellous

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #4 Sue Blauch, #24 Tony Dawkins, #49 Kevin Sparrock
• Attendance: 9302
• Duration: 1:51