MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Seimone Augustus had 21 points and seven assists to lead the Minnesota Lynx to a 95-67 victory over the Phoenix Mercury in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night.
Maya Moore scored 13 of her 15 points in the first quarter and Candice Wiggins added 14 off the bench for the top-seeded Lynx, who held the highest scoring team in the league 22 points below its regular season average.
Diana Taurasi had 22 points and five rebounds for the Mercury, who were outrebounded 42-26 and shot just 35.7 percent from the field.
The Lynx opened the game with a 15-3 run and the Mercury never got closer than six points the rest of the way.
Game 2 is Sunday in Phoenix.
Fever 82, Dream 74
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Tangela Smith scored 25 points and Tamika Catchings, announced as the league MVP earlier in the day, had 12 points and 13 rebounds to Indiana past Atlanta in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Atlanta's Angel McCoughtry, second in the league in scoring during the regular season, was held to 11 points - about 10.5 below her average. She played just 17 minutes and was in foul trouble throughout. Atlanta had swept the regular-season series with the Fever 4-0, and McCoughtry averaged nearly 24 points in those games.
Lindsey Harding scored 17 points and Sancho Lyttle had 14 for the Dream.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series will be played Sunday in Atlanta.