Canada’s big day, team defense carries Dream to 92-82 win over Liberty in WNBA semifinals

ATLANTA (AP) — Jordin Canada scored 20 of her 25 points in the second half and had five steals to help the Atlanta Dream beat the New York Liberty 92-82 on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-five WNBA semifinals series.

DeWanna Bonner added 23 points and helped fill the void when Allisha Gray went down with a left hand injury in the second quarter. Atlanta once again played stellar defense, scoring 32 points off 21 forced turnovers, including 16 in a dominant third quarter.

New York trimmed a 16-point deficit down to five in the closing minutes, but a clutch 3-pointer by Canada just before the shot clock buzzer followed by another transition layup off a stop stemmed the tide. Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty with 27 points and Breanna Stewart added 19.

The Liberty led by three at the half before Atlanta outscored New York 32-15 in the third quarter. Reese and Canada had three steals apiece in the third, keying a 13-3 run to start the half which gave Atlanta a lead it never surrendered.

Game 2 of the series is Wednesday in Atlanta.

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Alan Cole, The Associated Press