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WNBA Phoenix Mercury

Fever Keeps Mercury Winless, 83-76

by Andrew Nordmeier
May 27, 2005 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Phoenix Mercury


The Phoenix Mercury dropped its second straight game 83-76 to the Indiana Fever Tuesday night in the Conseco Fieldhouse.

After a tight first half that saw the teams separated by three points, the Fever started to pull away thanks to strong play from forward Tamika Catchings. She carried the Fever offense in the critical minutes that Indiana made its break from the grasp of the Mercury. Catchings really slayed the Mercury from the foul line as she hit a career-high 15-of-17 shots from the line to ice the win and finished with a game-high 28 points.

Catchings scored 22 of her 28 points in the second half.

Phoenix had a chance to take the victory itself as they were within one point with 1:40 left. At that point, the Mercury started to foul the Fever and put them on the line. Catchings hit five-of-six free throws in the last 100 seconds to seal the win.

Phoenix was much improved from the floor, hitting on 28-of-64 shots in the loss. That put them 15 percentage points better than their season-opening loss to Sacramento. Diana Taurasi led all Phoenix players with 24 points while Plenette Pierson added 15, Anna DeForge chipped in 14 and Ashley Robinson scored 10.

Phoenix won the battle inside as they outscored Indiana 32-22 in the paint and outrebounded the Fever 37-30.

Phoenix heads to Charlotte for a game against the 0-2 Sting Thursday afternoon at 4pm before finishing up its three-game swing Saturday afternoon against the Connecticut Sun. Indiana is 2-0 for the first time in three years.

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