INDIANA NOTES: • The Fever’s two points in the fourth quarter are the fewest
scored in one quarter in franchise history, the previous low of four coming on
June 13, 2007 against Seattle. It’s also the second-fewest points scored in a
fourth quarter in league history. Indiana shot just 1-of-16 in the period. •
Victoria Vivians set a new season high in rebounding, grabbing nine boards. •
Vivians hit two 3-pointers to give her 63 in her rookie campaign. That total is
eighth in Fever history for any player and is fifth in league history for
rookies. Teammate Kelsey Mitchell hit one 3-pointer to give her 67 on the year,
which ranks third in league history among rookies and fifth in Fever history. •
Candice Dupree’s layup with 2:01 to play in the first half made her just the
ninth player in WNBA history to score 6,000 career points. She has 6,005 points,
just three shy of passing Lauren Jackson (6,007) for eighth all-time. • The
Fever outrebounded the Mystics 39-36. It was the first time since a July 24
contest against Seattle that the Fever won the rebounding margin. • Natalie
Achonwa scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. She was perfect at
the free throw line, hitting all five attempts.
WASHINGTON NOTES: • The Mystics earned their seventh straight victory as they
pursue a top-two seed in the playoffs. Washington is currently just one game
behind Atlanta for the second seed, and three behind Seattle for the top
position. • Washington matched a season-high in first quarter scoring with 31
points, tying an August 9 matchup against Seattle. • LaToya Sanders finished
with eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds. She also matched a season-high
in blocks with three. • Monique Currie scored 14 points, her second-best total
this season. She scored 24 on June 1 in a game at Las Vegas. • Elena Delle Donne
scored a game-high 25 points. It was her fourth straight game with more than 20,
and her 18th such performance on the season. • The Mystics prevailed despite a
season-low in bench points. Washington reserves were outscored 21-5 by Indiana.
INDIANA QUOTES
Quoting Fever Head Coach Pokey Chatman: “Despite the first five-and-a-half
minutes, we held a good Washington team to just 76 points. That should be good
enough. But we settled for jump shots in the end when we hadn’t done that the
whole game. That did us in.”
(on 4th quarter)
“I wish we could have made a damn shot. I don’t actually mind that we missed 15
shots, but we’re not that good a 3-point shooting team, percentage-wise. I mind
that we settled for jumpers instead of working for better shots. We took only 10
3-pointers through three quarters and we took eight in the fourth (0-8), after
we had been leading. That’s what bothers me.”
(on good vibes from having won back to back games) “It’s only human nature to
feel good when things finally work out after having worked so hard to do them
all season. This season has been a test of our character, and winning a few
games represents some of our players’ buy-in, persistence and some pride. It
felt good to have some success. We hope to capitalize on that, keep working and
win as many as we can down the stretch.”
Quoting the Fever’s Natalie Achonwa (On the fourth quarter) “It was especially
frustrating because we did play good defense. You can’t win a game scoring two
points in the fourth quarter. If you take out the first five minutes of the game
where they had like six threes or whatever, then we’re up the whole game. I
think 40 minutes of focus as well as taking good shots in the fourth quarters is
vital for us to get over that little hump in the crucial moments of the game.”
(On only having two games left this season) “We have two left, one in Chicago
and one here in Indy. Both against Chicago. So luckily the scout will be the
same. It’s going to be a battle of the unappreciated. Because they’re a team
that the record doesn’t show how good they are as well, just like us. It’s
definitely going to be a battle and we want to finish the season strong and come
out with two wins to keep us a .500 for the post All-Star break.”
Quoting the Fever’s Victoria Vivians (On the fourth quarter) “It was frustrating
not scoring and them making an offensive run. At the end of the game, you can’t
do that. You can’t just score two points. I feel like it was very frustrating
for us but we’ll bounce back.”
(On the last two games) “Just try to win out. The season’s been rough but we’re
just going to try to win out and get ready for next season.” WASHINGTON QUOTES
Quoting Mystics Head Coach Mike Thibault (On being ahead seven points at
halftime) “We didn’t score like forever. We took about seven straight jump
shots. In the third quarter, didn’t get anything going in the basket. we finally
came to our senses and thought maybe our best player should catch the ball
somewhere within 15 feet. That helped a little bit. We tried to get Elena (Delle
Donne) the ball down lower. We were a little tired and to Indiana’s credit, they
came out in the second half and defense was crisper. I thought they did a good
job on making us try to make an extra pass. We did it early and we didn’t do it
in the third quarter. and then our defense took over early in the fourth
quarter. I thought one of the biggest things was they had 10 offensive rebounds
at halftime and I don’t know if they had hardly any in the second half. They had
one in the second half, one offensive board. That’s a big difference. That helps
hold them to two points in the quarter.”
Quoting Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne “Definitely a tough game. It’s always hard to
come to someone’s home court and play them when they’re really just playing free
and with nothing to lose. I’m really glad that we were able to kind of grit it
out and get our defense together in the fourth quarter and come away with a win.
This was huge for us.”
(On the end of the regular season and heading into the playoffs) “There is still
a lot on the line for us with seeding. So I we gotta play our best basketball
each and every night and get ourselves ready.”
Quoting Mystics’ Kristi Toliver “It was an up and down game. We knew it was
going to be tough coming here with a team that has nothing to lose, playing on
the road. And given our circumstance of trying to clinch a third place, at least
a third-place spot. There was a lot on the line for us. But third quarter was
pretty terrible for us. But in the fourth quarter we really buckled down on the
defensive end, got our stops, got rebounds and we were able to play our game.”
