Zellous, Nolan help Shock beat Fever, 72-56

Shavonte Zellous scored 23 points and Deanna Nolan added 22 as the Detroit Shock easily cruised to a 72-56 victory over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Shock, seeking their fourth straight trip to the WNBA finals, have knocked out the Fever in each of the last three postseasons. Game 2 is Friday night at Indiana.

Katie Douglas led Indiana with 16 points, but the Fever couldn't overcome Detroit's edge in rebounds and turnovers.

After trailing the entire first half, the Shock scored the first six points of the third quarter to take their first lead, and expanded the margin to 52-43 going into the fourth.

The Fever cut the margin to four, but Nolan scored the next six points and Zellous added a three-point play to put Detroit ahead 63-50 with 5:09 to play.

The Shock struggled through the first half of the season, but closed with nine wins in their last 11 games and improved to 3-0 in the playoffs.

Zellous had 16 points in the first half and led a rally that pulled the Shock to 37-35 at the break.