WNBA Finals | Detroit has 2-0 lead over San Antonio in best of 5

SAN ANTONIO — Katie Smith is taking charge on the court, and her energetic effort has helped put the Detroit Shock one victory from its second WNBA championship in three years.

Smith scored 22 points and the Shock used a fast start for a 69-61 victory over the San Antonio Silver Stars on Friday night. Detroit leads 2-0 in the best-of-five WNBA Finals.

Game 3 is Sunday at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.

"You want to find a way to win, whether it's pickup or a game here," said Smith, who has led the Shock in scoring for both games. "You just try to stay aggressive. I just tried to stay in that attack mode."

Deanna Nolan and Kara Braxton added 12 points each for the Shock, which led 19-2 less than six minutes into the game.

Becky Hammon went 11 of 12 from the free-throw line and scored 24 points to lead San Antonio.

The Silver Stars tied the score with 3:26 left in the third quarter on two free throws by Hammon, and she put San Antonio ahead 45-44 with 1:46 left in the quarter on two more free throws.

"We exerted a lot of energy to crawl back," Hammon said.

Detroit's Plenette Pierson, wearing a protective wrap on her shoulder after missing Game 1 with an injury, answered with a reverse layup for her only points of the night. Smith added two free throws that gave the Shock a 48-45 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Shock expanded the lead to 66-55 with 2:15 to play after Smith made a 10-foot shot, Taj McWilliams-Franklin scored on a 17-footer and Braxton added a layup.

Smith, McWilliams-Franklin and Braxton combined to go 8 for 11 in the fourth quarter and outscored San Antonio 17-16.

Smith scored 25 points in Detroit's Game 1 victory. She has made 6 of 12 three-pointers and is averaging 23.5 points in the Finals.

"Katie Smith is killing us," Hammon said. "And she's facilitating a lot of people."

Detroit made 9 of its first 10 shots, and San Antonio missed its first seven attempts. The Silver Stars didn't score from the field until 5:57 into the game.

"Detroit came out strong," San Antonio coach Dan Hughes said. "They made shots, did things, put pressure back on us."

Ann Wauters of the Silver Stars scored six points during a 12-0 burst to open the second quarter.

"When they started to make that run in the second quarter, we just kept our composure and kept on playing," said Shock coach Bill Laimbeer, a former NBA player. "We knew at some point in the second half we'd get our turn, and we did."

San Antonio was 2-0 against Detroit in the regular season.

"Regular season — it's not boring to us, but we don't turn it up for every game like we could, because you just can't get that frame of mind that you do in the playoffs, especially the Finals," Laimbeer said.

"We have another level that we can take it to in the playoffs, and we're showing that, I believe, this year."