PHOENIX (AP) - Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 21 points, six rebounds and seven assists to lead the Minnesota Lynx past the Phoenix Mercury 103-86 Sunday to advance to the WNBA finals for the first time.
Maya Moore had 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Minnesota, which needed three games to eliminate San Antonio in the first round before sweeping the Mercury in the Western Conference finals.
The Lynx await the winner of the Indiana-Atlanta series that will be decided on Tuesday night. The final series begins Oct. 2 in Minnesota, which had the league's best record in the regular season.
Diana Taurasi had 22 points for the Mercury, who were swept in the West finals by eventual champion Seattle a year ago.
Dream 94, Fever 77
ATLANTA (AP) - Iziane Castro Marques moved into Atlanta's starting lineup and scored a season-high 30 points as the Dream evened the Eastern Conference finals.
Angel McCoughtry had 27 points for Atlanta, which thrived in Game 2 with a small lineup made necessary when starting center Erika de Souza left to play for Brazil in an Olympics qualifying tournament in Colombia.
The deciding Game 3 in the best-of-three series will be played Tuesday at Indianapolis.
WNBA MVP Tamika Catchings had only eight points, 7 below her average, before hurting her right foot and leaving with 4:54 remaining. Catchings suffered the injury when she landed on Alison Bales' foot when attempting to defend Bales' shot.
Katie Douglas made five 3-pointers and led Indiana with 25 points.