Angel Reese scored a postseason career high 23 points Wednesday night, and the Atlanta Dream outlasted the New York Liberty 101 to 98 in overtime at State Farm Arena to take a 2 to 0 lead in the WNBA semifinals.
Reese shot 8 of 16 from the field and added 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, but her biggest work came in the extra period. She scored six of Atlanta’s 13 overtime points, and with 4.3 seconds left and the Dream holding a one point lead, she went to the line and made both free throws to put the game away.
Atlanta had to get it done shorthanded. Allisha Gray, the team’s leading scorer, sat out with a hand injury she suffered in the Game 1 win on Sunday. Jordin Canada stepped up with 23 points of her own, matching Reese for the team high.
For a while, it looked like Breanna Stewart was going to take the game over by herself. The Liberty star dropped 25 points in the first half. Atlanta adjusted its defense at the break and sent more bodies her way, and Stewart scored just 10 points the rest of the night, overtime included.
The Dream had a chance to win it in regulation. Rhyne Howard got a floater up on the final possession, but it rimmed out and sent the game to overtime.
The extra period swung back and forth. Atlanta built a five point lead, New York clawed back, and a Stewart basket gave the Liberty a 98 to 97 edge in the closing minute. Naz Hillmon answered with a layup at the 20.8 second mark to put the Dream back in front. On the next trip down, Sabrina Ionescu threw the ball away, and Angel Reese iced it from the line.
The ending looked a lot different from the last time Reese had an overtime game on the line in Atlanta. In August, with the game tied in the final seconds of regulation against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, Reese grabbed an offensive rebound right under the basket and missed the putback. Indiana won 95 to 91 in overtime, and Reese told reporters two days later that she didn’t sleep that night and kept replaying the play in her head. Wednesday, she was the one closing the door.
She has been steady all postseason. In the series opener on Sunday, Reese put up 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals in another Atlanta win.
Angel Reese arrived in Atlanta this season by trade from the Chicago Sky, and the move was supposed to turn the Dream into a real contender. Atlanta entered these playoffs with three straight first round exits. Now the Dream sit one win away from their first trip to the WNBA Finals since 2013.
