INDIANAPOLIS - Katie Douglas scored 21 points and Tamika Catchings added 17 to help the Indiana Fever beat the New York Liberty 72-62 in Game 3 on Monday night to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
Erin Phillips had 12 points and five steals for the Fever, who scored 26 points off New York's 20 turnovers.
"It was a very physical game. I think we knew it was going to be based on the first two games," Catchings said. "Tonight the difference between the last game and this game was our aggressiveness as a team."
Indiana will host Atlanta on Thursday in Game 1 of the conference finals. Atlanta won all four matchups this season, including the finale on Sept. 11.
"Not sure we have played them at full strength any game this year. We are not afraid of Atlanta. We are looking forward to playing them, especially here," said Fever head coach Lin Dunn.
Nicole Powell led New York with 19 points. Cappie Pondexter was held to 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting. She shot just 15 for 44 in the series.
Douglas averaged 22 points in the series and led the Fever in scoring all three games. Catchings bounced back after being limited to two points Indiana's loss in Game 2.
"Once again I want to thank the fans for being loud, wild and crazy. It really energized us. We did all the things we needed to do defensively. At the end of the day, our defense won the game," Dunn said.
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