McCoughtry, de Souza lead Dream past Liberty | Futurist Transhuman News Blog

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- After a slow start, the Atlanta Dream increased their lead late in the first half and then simply ran away from the New York Liberty in the third quarter.

Angel McCoughtry scored 16 points, Erika de Souza had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and the Dream cruised to a 70-57 victory over the Liberty on Friday night.

Tiffany Hayes added 12 points and Alex Bentley had 11 for the Dream (17-13), who won their third straight and moved closer to clinching second place in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta leads Washington, which lost at Connecticut, by three games with four games remaining for both teams.

''It's really important to finish up strong, just to get that momentum for the playoffs and keep the No. 2 spot,'' McCoughtry said. ''We just want to get that confidence going in. We don't want to go in feeling kind of down and losing, so it's really important for that momentum.

After opening the season 12-1, the Dream lost 10 of their next 14. However, Atlanta seems to have straightened things out with its three-game win streak heading into the final stretch that includes a road game against first-place Chicago.

''It's always about the finish,'' Dream coach Fred Williams said. ''The injuries hit us real hard with key players - Armintie Herrington, Tiffany Hayes and Sancho Lyttle, who is not with us. We went through the storms, coveraged through it, stayed in second ... and we're taking that challenge right now to finish strong towards the end.''

Kara Braxton scored 17 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter, Pierson had 12 and Alex Montgomery 10 for New York (11-20), which moved closer to being eliminated from playoff contention.

''It's always the third quarter,'' Braxton said. ''We have trouble with the third quarter. Every time we come out, we come out a little slow. So we're still trying to work on that with the last three games and hopefully we'll correct it and make a playoff push.''

After New York pulled within three points on Braxton's layup with 2:20 to go in the second quarter, Le'Coe Willingham and Hayes hit consecutive 3s nearly a minute apart to extend Atlanta's lead to 41-32 with 1:06 remaining.

Aneika Henry's buzzer-beating jumper gave the Dream a 43-36 lead at halftime. McCoughtry then scored six points as Atlanta scored the first 12 points of the third quarter to increase its 19 with 5:20 remaining in the period.