Maya Moore's 36 points rally Lynx over Atlanta

ATLANTA – Maya Moore of the Lynx and Angel McCoughtry of Atlanta — two of the WNBA's top three scorers — put on quite an offensive show on Friday night.

Moore scored a season-high 36 points, four more than McCoughtry, as the West-leading Lynx rallied from a big second-half deficit to edge the Dream 84-82 at Philips Arena.

The Lynx (18-6) trailed by 16 points in the third quarter before closing it with a 15-3 run to trail only 66-62 going into the fourth. Sylvia Fowles scored 11 points in that quarter for the Lynx and 19 total, tying her season high.

"We weren't happy; we never want to be down that much," Moore said, "but we didn't give up. … We were squeezed and resilience came out."

Two free throws by McCoughtry put Atlanta ahead 78-73 with 4 minutes, 45 seconds left, but then the Lynx went to their top two scoring options repeatedly.

Fowles made a layup, Moore a layup on a running finger roll — and after one more McCoughtry free throw — Moore made her fifth three-pointer to give the Lynx an 80-79 lead.

The 11-1 run continued with a Fowles jumper with 31 seconds left and Tricia Liston's two free throws with 8.4 seconds to go. By then the Lynx had an 84-79 cushion. McCoughtry's three-pointer at the buzzer was immaterial.

This was the sixth time this season that the Lynx overcame a deficit of 10 points or more, a franchise record and current league high.

Moore had her third 30-point game of the season and second in a row — she had 32 points against San Antonio on Tuesday; she was averaging 20.9 points, second best in the league.

Fowles, the only other Lynx in double figures, was tough on the defense, too. The 6-6 center had eight rebounds and five blocks.

"The first half I thought we were a step behind," Fowles said. "We weren't getting any rebounds or defensive stops, but second half we sucked it up."

Veteran guard Seimone Augustus, who missed 10 games after arthroscopic surgery on her right knee, was back in the Lynx lineup. She scored six of the Lynx's first eight points, making her first three shots before she missed her next 10.