INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Angel McCoughtry embraced her role as villain, constantly taunting Indiana's fans while carrying her team to the WNBA finals.
The forward scored 26 points, and the Atlanta Dream defeated the Fever 83-67 on Tuesday night to win the Eastern Conference finals series 2-1 and advance to the championship round for the second straight year.
Atlanta will play at Minnesota on Sunday in the opener of the best-of-five series.
McCoughtry was vocal and demonstrative in Game 1 of this series, earning her status as public enemy No. 1 at Conseco Fieldhouse. She was booed loudly during pregame introductions before Game 3 at a venue where WNBA fans rarely respond to anyone that way.
At one point, the animated McCoughtry threw a towel toward the crowd after coach Marynell Meadors took her out of the game.
The drama was just fuel for the superstar who finished second in league scoring during the regular season.
"You get used to it, but you have to use it to motivate you," she said. "It's do or die. What else can you do? You just use it as motivation and pump your team up."
Iziane Castro Marques scored 23 points, Lindsey Harding scored 16 points and Sancho Lyttle added 10 points, 11 rebounds and five steals for the Dream.
Indiana fought valiantly, but couldn't win with a hobbled Tamika Catchings. The league's MVP was limited to 24 minutes because of plantar fasciitis in her right foot.
"We went out there and played hard," Catchings said. "We didn't play as smart as we normally have. We had way too many turnovers and gave up way too many offensive rebounds."
McCoughtry shot 19 free throws - eight more than Indiana's entire team. Fever coach Lin Dunn didn't care for the way the game was called.
"I'm sure I'm going to be fined by the league, but I thought the officiating was horrendous," she said. "If