Liberty 87, Fever 72

After losing the opener of their playoff series against Indiana, New York relied on its strength in Game 2: its defense.

Nicole Powell scored 19 points, Plenette Pierson had 15 and the Liberty beat the Fever Saturday to even the best-of-three Eastern Conference semifinals.

Cappie Pondexter scored 14, Essence Carson had 12 and Kia Vaughn 10 for New York, which had 11 steals, blocked five shots, and scored 28 points off Indiana's 18 turnovers.

"We really focused on playing team defense, stopping penetration and keying in on their key players," Carson said. "We just played our defense, our white-line defense. Today, everyone was very, very focused. It was win or go home, and obviously no one wanted to go home."

The Liberty shot 50 percent from the field (30 for 60) and were 20 for 21 on free throws. Pierson shot 7 for 11 and Powell was 6 for 9.

Katie Douglas scored 20 points and Shavonte Zellous had 13 for the Fever. Indiana leading scorer Tamika Catchings was held to two points on 1-for-8 shooting from the field. She had nine rebounds, but finished with six turnovers.

The Fever shot 46 percent (30 for 66) from the field, but were just 5 for 10 from the line. Douglas scored 11 points in the first quarter on 4-for-5 shooting, including 3 for 4 on 3s, and was 3 for 11 from the field the rest of the way, including 0 for 6 from beyond the arc.

"All credit goes to New York," Zellous said. "They just came out with a sense of urgency. They came and attacked us and I guess we were on the back of our heels and they came out with a victory."

Late Friday

Lynx 66, Silver Stars 65

On a night when their head coach and rookie teammate collected league honors, Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus showed why Minnesota might not be done accepting trophies this year.

Whalen scored 20 points and Augustus added 19 as Minnesota's MVP candidates carried the Lynx past San Antonio in Game 1 of their WNBA Western Conference semifinal.

Whalen also made the game's biggest defensive play to seal the victory.

With 4 seconds left, the Silver Stars ran an inbound play on Minnesota's end of the court, looking for the game-winning shot.

But Whalen tipped Danielle Robinson's entry pass to Maya Moore, who dribbled out the clock for the win.

"I told Lindsay that's the biggest deflection I've seen in my life," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "Lindsay's just been important to us all season long and tonight was no different. She just poses problems in the pick-and-roll game and she had a great bounce in her step."

Rebekkah Brunson grabbed 14 rebounds, Whalen added five assists and Moore chipped in 10 points just hours after she officially was selected as the WNBA Rookie of the Year and Reeve earned Coach of the Year honors.

Danielle Adams and Becky Hammon each scored 16 points for San Antonio.