Minnesota Lynx have tied the WNBA Finals at a game-a-piece thanks to an 83-71 home win over Indiana Fever behind 50 combined points from Maya Moore and Seimone Augustus.
After a sluggish start, the defending WNBA champions poured in 29 third quarter points to stun Indiana, whose tough defence in the first half had faded, as well as their lead.
Augustus led Minnesota with 27 points, 23 of those coming in the second half alone as she led the way with her USA international team-mate Maya Moore not far behind as she posted 23 points.
Lindsay Whalen was the only other Lynx player in double-figures as she posted 14 points.
For the Fever, it was a tale of two halves as they dominated in the first quarter, picking up where they left off in game one making Minnesota miss 11 of their first 14 shot attempts and scoring freely themselves at the other end to lead 18-11 but that was as good as it got. Lynx rallied but still trailed at the half 33-31 but a last second bucket from Taj McWilliams-Franklin narrowed it to a field goal.
Eventually, the hosts got their rewards in that game-changing third period and never looked back.
Indiana are still without leading scorer Katie Douglas and also had backup Jeanette Pohlen taken off with an injured knee in the second quarter. She didn’t return and Minnesota took advantage of the loss of depth the visitors had.
Tamika Catchings led the Fever with 27 points and eight rebounds. Erlana Larkins, who put in an MVP-esque 16 points and 15 rebounds in game one was restricted to three points in game two.
Game three moves to Indiana on Friday.
