There’s no quit in the Indiana Fever.
Even though the team is winless through its first six games, the players are
still working together and have the big picture in focus as they host the Dallas
Wings on Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Friday’s game is the first of three meetings this season. Dallas took two of the
three regular-season matchups from the Fever last season with both victories
coming in Arlington, Texas.
The Fever came back from a 20-point deficit on Saturday to force overtime
against the New York Liberty before falling 87-80 at home. The 20-point
come-from-behind effort would have set a record for the largest comeback in
Indiana franchise history if the Fever could have finished with a win.
Indiana’s 0-6 start is the longest losing streak to begin a season in team
history.
“We have to maintain high levels of play on both ends of the floor for longer
than 32 minutes,” Indiana coach Pokey Chatman said after the loss. “We played 45
today. It’s those lapses where you get a good shot but it doesn’t go in so you
get a little frustrated and commit a foul that have killed us. We have to get
through those pivotal moments.”
Indiana had four players score in double figures in the loss. Rookie guard
Kelsey Mitchell paved the way with a season-high 26 points while forward Candice
Dupree added 16 points and eight rebounds. Guard Erica Wheeler had 14 points and
seven assists and Tiffany Mitchell hit for 10 points.
The Wings (3-3) head to Indiana on the heels of a 94-90 home victory over
Seattle on Saturday as Skylar Diggins-Smith and Liz Cambage combined for 52
points for Dallas.
Diggins-Smith led the Wings with 27 points and Cambage saved her best for last,
hitting on 17 of her 25 points in the fourth quarter to help stave off the
Storm. Dallas put the game away on a pair of free throws by Diggins-Smith with
1.2 seconds remaining.
Dallas coach Fred Williams said his team is still learning to play together
after the offseason addition of Cambage, who allows a lot of the Wings’ offense
to funnel through the post.
“It takes about five or six games for that to happen,” Williams said of the
learning curve. ” The more reps we get with her, the better the feel we have for
offensive cuts and patterns.”
Three of the Wings’ key players, Aerial Powers, Glory Johnson and Theresa
Plaisance, did not play against Seattle because of injuries and will be
game-time decisions against Indiana.
Williams said his shorthanded team is doing its best to keep up while waiting to
get back his injured players
“They’re trying to hold up,” Williams told the Dallas Morning News. “They get a
little tired. I think if we can just watch Sky’s minutes and Liz’s minutes,
that’s important for us right now.”
Dallas signed Australian center Cayla George on Sunday to bolster its front line
and to help Cambage, George’s teammate on the national Olympic team.
