Liberty unable to stop Atlanta's late surge

Angel McCoughtry had 28 points and the Dream went on a late 11-0 run to snap a four-game losing streak with an 82-75 victory over the Liberty Sunday in Atlanta.

The Liberty led 72-71 with less than three minutes remaining but didn't score again until Leilani Mitchell hit a three-pointer at the buzzer. The Liberty missed four field-goal attempts and turned the ball over twice during the drought.

Cappie Pondexter scored 28 points to lead the Liberty (11-11). Mitchell scored 13 points, Plenette Pierson had 12 and Taj McWilliams-Franklin 11.

Pondexter scored 14 points in the third quarter but had only three in the fourth. "We kind of lost it the final five minutes," she said. "We made some mistakes and had a couple of turnovers, which led to transition baskets for them. That's what they're good at."

Iziane Castro Marques had 21 points for the Dream (15-9), including eight in the final streak. Erika DeSouza added 14 points and 10 rebounds. McCoughtry had 10 rebounds and six assists.

The Dream moved into second place in the Eastern Conference. "They are the best rebounding team in the league," Liberty coach Anne Donovan said after Atlanta recorded a 36-26 advantage on the boards. "Our goals coming in were to try to contain them in transition and try to keep them off the backboards. We didn't do either of those things well."

The Liberty opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run to take a 28-15 lead. Pierson's jumper made it 37-27 with 2:19 left in the first half.

- AP