Nolan’s 30 points send Shock to WNBA finals

The Indiana Fever had two chances in 29 hours to advance to its first WNBA finals.

Deanna Nolan wouldn’t let it happen.

Nolan had a franchise playoff-record 30 points, and the Detroit Shock advanced to the championship round with an 81-65 victory in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Monday at Auburn Hills, Mich.

The Fever led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter, but Nolan scored 20 points in a 14-minute span to rally Detroit as Indiana lost its lead and All-Star forward Tamika Catchings in the second quarter.

“I wanted to see the flow of the game, and then I knew I needed to make something happen,” said Nolan, who made seven of nine three-point shots. “I was a little surprised that my three-pointers kept falling -- I’m not usually that good a three-point shooter.”

Nolan’s 54 points in two days helped the defending champions improve to 7-0 when facing elimination in the last two seasons. The Shock, going for its third title in five years, will face Phoenix starting Wednesday.

“That was a spectacular individual effort by Deanna,” Coach Bill Laimbeer said. “There were times that I wasn’t sure if we had enough players who were going to compete hard enough to win this game, but she carried us until the rest of the team got going.”

Detroit is 4-0 at home in the playoffs and 0-2 on the road.

Catchings, who sat out the final 13 regular-season games because of a left foot injury, strained her right Achilles’ tendon in the last minute of the first half and did not return.

“She’s got a pretty significant injury,” Coach Brian Winters said.

Catchings left immediately after the game for Indiana to be examined and did not speak to the media.

Detroit’s Cheryl Ford, playing her third game in four days on a bad knee, had 15 rebounds in 18 minutes.

Tammy Sutton-Brown led the Fever with 17 points.

MOTOR RACING

Schumacher takes lead in top-fuel playoffs

Defending top-fuel champion Tony Schumacher took the NHRA playoff lead with his sixth Mac Tools U.S. Nationals victory in eight years. Schumacher drove away from Larry Dixon in the final at Clermont, Ind., finishing in 4.575 seconds at 331.94 mph to earn a spot in the winner’s circle with funny-car victor Mike Ashley, pro-stock points leader Dave Connolly and pro-stock motorcycle winner Craig Treble.

The three-time defending world champion leads the points standings for the first time this season. He’s 31 points ahead of second-place Dixon with the top four drivers after the four-race playoff advancing to the championship round.

It was Schumacher’s 40th win, tying him with Dixon for 10th place on the all-time NHRA Powerade Series list and second on the top-fuel wins list with Joe Amato at 52.

Ashley posted a 4.894 at 323.74 mph to the 8.072 at 104.08 mph by Robert Hight, whose Ford Mustang experienced problems early in the run.

Hight remained the points leader in funny car, 21 points ahead of Ashley, who jumped from sixth to second with his third career win.

The pro-stock final was the closest of the day as Connolly overcame a slight starting line advantage by Anderson to take the biggest win of his career by 0.0088 of a second. Connolly had caught Anderson by the 60-foot timer and went on to post a 6.710 at 206.32 mph to Anderson’s 6.729 at 205.79 mph.

Anderson and Connolly began the race first and second in the points standings, but Connolly moved ahead of Anderson by 14 points with the victory and superior qualifying.

Treble survived final-round opponent Matt Smith’s stout 6.977 at 189.63 mph in the final when Smith fouled out by 0.003 of a second. Treble posted a 7.037 at 190.83 mph to earn the win.

Smith raised his lead in the Countdown to Four to 51 points.

HORSE RACING

Longshot Set Play wins Del Mar Debutante

Longshot Set Play, who went off at 14-1 under Brice Blanc, rallied in the stretch to win the featured Grade I $250,000 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies.

The Florida-bred horse won the seven-furlong race by two lengths in 1:26.79. Spring Awakening, the 3-1 favorite, finished second, half a length ahead of Izarra.