WNBA Indiana Fever

Fever Final

Published on June 2, 2006 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Indiana Fever News Release


Recap and Highlights:

- Minnesota rookie Seimone Augustus scored 31 points and Minnesota outscored the Indiana Fever 30-25 in the final period to earn a nip-and-tuck 92-87 WNBA win. Minnesota, after scoring a WNBA record 114 points on Wednesday, won its second straight while the Fever lost its second straight game.

- Minnesota outscored the Fever 9-1 to start the opening period and led by as many as nine before the Fever rallied to within two, 87-85, with :59 left. Augustus, though, hit a clutch jumper and a late free throw to seal the Minnesota victory.

- All five Fever starters scored in double figures, with Tamika Whitmore pacing Indiana with 21 points before fouling out with 11.9 seconds remaining. The Fever got season highs from Anna DeForge (18), rookie La'Tangela Atkinson (15) and Tully Bevilaqua (11). Ebony Hoffman scored 12 for Indiana and paced the Fever with nine rebounds.

- Amber Jacobs added 16 points for the Lynx, and Nicole Ohlde had 13 poitns with a game-high 14 rebounds. Adrian Williams and Svetlana Abrosimova each scored 10 for Minnesota.

- Knotted at 62 after three quarters, homestanding Minnesota scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, and nine of the first 10, to command a 71-63 advantage. Seven straight Fever points brought Indiana within 73-70, but Abrosimova's 3 made it 76-70. An Augustus jumper was sandwiched between buckets by Hoffman and Linda Fröhlich, but another 3 by Abrosimova pushed the lead back to seven, 81-74, with 3:52 to play, and the Lynx later pushed the lead to nine.

- Back-to-back 3-pointers by Tully Bevilaqua and Anna DeForge gave Indiana its largest lead, 51-42, early in the third, but the Lynx scratched back to regain a 62-60 lead on four free throws by Adrian Williams in the final minute of the quarter. A pair of free throws by La'Tangela Atkinson knotted the score again, 62-62, heading to the final period.

- Tamika Whitmore scored 16 points in the first half to help the Fever to a 43-40 advantage at the intermission. The Fever outscored the Lynx 24-15 in the second quarter, with Tully Bevilaqua's second 3-pointer breaking a deadlock at 30. Whitmore scored the Fever's final eight points before halftime.

- After trailing 8-2 early, the Fever answered with a 9-2 run, including seven straight points capped by Tamika Whitmore's three-point play, to give Indiana its first lead, 13-10. The first half included seven lead changes and three ties, with each team leading by as many as six points.

- Rookie La'Tangela Atkinson, making her first pro start, scored eight points in the first quarter alone, exceeding her season high of six points two nights earlier at Houston.

Fever Quotes:

Fever forward Tamika Whitmore: "We gave the effort, we just didn't come out with the win. We never felt like we were out of it.

Brian Winters in general: "We played hard right to the end. We're a little beat up right now, with Catchings out and Tan White hurting. I thought we played very well, except for a couple of defensive breakdowns in the fourth quarter."

Brian Winters on Whitmore and a great game: "Whit had a great game. I thought she was terrific. We outrebounded them, we pressured them and we shot the ball well. I couldn't ask for any more from my players. We just lost a great game and Minnesota outperformed us in the end."

Fever Notes:

- Fever forward Tamika Catchings missed her second straight game on Friday night. Out with a right arch sprain, the reigning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year missed the second game of her career. She has played all but two games, and started every game but three, since the start of the 2002 season - 138 games and 137 starts. She is hopeful to return to the Fever lineup when Indiana hosts Eastern Conference rival Washington, next Wednesday, June 7.

- Indiana battles the Washington Mystics on Wednesday, June 7 (7:00 p.m.) when the first 2,500 fans to Conseco Fieldhouse will receive a 2006 Fever Schedule Poster, courtesy of McDonald's.

Check out the Indiana Fever Statistics

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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from June 2, 2006


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