Shavonte Zellous scored a playoff career-
high 23 points off the bench, and the Detroit Shock moved one step closer to
defending their WNBA title with a 72-56 win over the Indiana Fever in the
opening game of the best-of-three East finals.
Zellous went 10-of-11 from the free throw line for the Shock, who defeated
Atlanta, 2-0, in the first round of the playoffs. Deanna Nolan added 22
points, while Kara Braxton contributed 10 points and nine rebounds in the
win.
Katie Douglas scored 16 points to lead Indiana, which swept Washington in the
first round after going a conference-best 22-12 in the regular season. Tammy
Sutton-Brown added 14 points in defeat.
The series will now shift to Indianapolis, where the Fever went 14-3 in the
regular season.
Detroit trailed, 37-35, at halftime but used a strong second half to pull
away.
The Shock scored nine of the third quarter's first 11 points to grab a 44-39
lead, and a 6-0 run to close out the frame gave the home team a 52-43
advantage.
Indiana pulled to within 54-50 on Tamika Catchings' turnaround jumper with
7:11 to play in the fourth, but Detroit responded with a 10-0 run -- led by
six points from Nolan -- to put the game away with 4 1/2 minutes left. The
Shock led by double digits the rest of the way.
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