Liberty Eliminates Fever, Arrange East Finals Match Against Dream

The New York Liberty earned a trip ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals where they will face the Atlanta Dream, when they defeated the Indiana Fever, 77-74, Thursday at the Madison Square Garden in New York.

Cappie Pondexter converted a tiebreaking jumper with 28 seconds left in the game, which eventually gave them the big victory.

Pondexter scored a franchise playoff record 30 points, to go with his four assists and three rebounds, but she credited their win to her team mate Kia Vaughn, who scored a career-high 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

"She was amazing," Pondexter said referring to Vaughn. "My whole career, her whole career I've never seen Kia play like that. If she didn't play like that, we definitely wouldn't be here advancing to the next round. Her performance was one of the best and amazing."

Vaughn, who only averaged 10 minutes a game in his two-year WNBA career, played for a career-high 26 minutes and she responded well to the challenge.

"No one told me I was going to play as much as I did. I'm happy because that lets me know I did something great." Vaughn said.

"I just pretty much had to come in, and just be myself, be aggressive and attack the boards. My teammates and coaches, they believe in me. I've been working hard in practice and it showed out on the court." she added.

Essence Carson added 11 points, while Taj McWilliams-Franklin chipped in six points and grabbed 11 rebounds for New York, which will be on their second conference finals in the last three years.

The Liberty and the Dream will start their showdown on Sunday at the Madison Square Garden in New York.