COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Aliyah Boston made the go-ahead basket with 7.4 seconds left, Lexie Hull stole the ensuing inbound pass, and the sixth-seeded Indiana Fever beat the third-seeded Atlanta Dream 87-85 on Thursday night to advance to the WNBA semifinals.
Despite star guard Caitlin Clark being among the injured players missing for the visitors, Indiana closed on a 7-0 run to win a playoff series for the first time since 2015. The Fever will open a best-of-five series Sunday against the second-seeded Las Vegas Aces, who beat the seventh-seeded Seattle Storm 74-73 in Game 3 of their first-round series Thursday night.
Boston was left alone under the basket for an easy layup after Atlanta’s Brionna Jones went to the ground going for a loose ball. It gave Indiana an 86-85 lead, its first since it was 33-30 in the second quarter.
Rhyne Howard twice had trouble inbounding the ball in the final seconds, with Hull coming from behind to poke it away from Jones. Indiana got it to Odyssey Sims, who went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line to give Atlanta another shot with 1.2 seconds left. Jones’ off-balance 3-point attempt was off the mark as the final buzzer sounded.
Kelsey Mitchell led Indiana with 24 points, and Boston finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Sims added 16 points and eight assists, and Natasha Howard scored 12 points.