WNBA Indiana Fever

Strong Fourth Quarter Leads Fever Past Dream 87-82

Published on August 10, 2019 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Indiana Fever News Release


KEY STAT:

The Fever outscored the Dream 27-19 in the fourth quarter thanks to 15 made free throws. Indiana shot 45.5 percent from the floor (5-of-11) and held Atlanta to 30 percent shooting (6-of-20) in the final 10 minutes.

Tiffany Hayes set a new career high with 34 points, including four 3-pointers. Hayes added six rebounds and four assists.

KEY RUN:

With the game tied at 66, the Fever went on a 12-4 run to take a 78-70 lead with 2:04 remaining. They led the rest of the game.

Atlanta opened the second half on a 16-7 run and led by nine with 3:09 left in the third quarter.

Indiana used a 7-0 spurt to turn a 27-24 deficit into a 31-27 advantage midway through the second quarter. The Fever led 41-39 at halftime.

INDIANA NOTES:

Erica Wheeler connected on six of her eight shots and posted a team-high 19 points. It was the ninth time Wheeler paced the Fever in scoring this season.

With her seven assists, Wheeler (137) passed Tamika Catchings (135 in 2010) and Briann January (136 in 2016) to move into fourth on the Fever's single season assist list. Wheeler now owns the fourth, third and second-highest totals in franchise history and needs seven more assists to set the Fever single-season record.

Wheeler (19 points), Candice Dupree (16 points), Teaira McCowan (13 points), Natalie Achonwa (12 points) and Kelsey Mitchell (10) points all reached double digits. It marks the third time in 2019 Indiana has had five players record at least 10 points (6/11 at Seattle, 8/3 vs. Minnesota).

Natalie Achonwa hit a 3-pointer for the second game in a row. Achonwa's 3-pointer on Thursday was the first of her WNBA career.

Candice Dupree finished with 16 points. Dupree scored at least 12 points for the fifth time in six games.

Indiana's 21 made free throws were a season high. Four different Fever players made at least three free throws.

The Fever have won three straight home games for the first time since starting the 2017 season 3-0 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

With the victory, Indiana took the season series against Atlanta for the first time since 2016.

The win puts the Fever two games back in the win column of a playoff spot.

ATLANTA NOTES:

Indianapolis native Alex Bentley did not play (personal reasons).

Tiffany Hayes led all scorers with 34 points on 12-of-21 shooting, a career high. Hayes' two highest-scoring game of the season have come against Indiana (28 points on 6/19). She set new career highs in field goals made (12) and field goals attempted (21) while tying a career best with 4 3-pointers.

Hayes reached double figures for the ninth time in her last 11 games. She has scored at least 10 points 15 times this season.

Brittney Sykes (15 points) and Jessica Breland (13 points) contributed a combined 28 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. They were the only Dream players other than Hayes to score more than seven points.

Sykes scored the 1,000th point of her WNBA career. She also led Atlanta with nine rebounds and five assists.

Jessica Breland tied her career high with three made 3-pointers (last: 6/16/17) and set a season high record with five attempted 3-pointers (last: 2 vs. Seattle, 5/31).

She scored in double-digits (13) for the eighth time this season.

Atlanta tied a season-high record with 24 points in the third quarter for the third time.

The Dream's 12 made three-pointers and 31 attempted are both season-high records (last: 10 made vs Indiana, 6/19; 28 attempted vs New York, 6/30).

Saturday's game marked the second game this season Atlanta earned only one blocked shot (last: at Washington, 6/1), and the second time their opponent was held to only two blocks (last: at Connecticut, 6/21).

INDIANA QUOTES:

Head Coach Pokey Chatman

"It was an efficient game for us in the sense that we had five double-figure scorers and a lot of contributors. Nat [Natalie Achonwa] had 12 points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes; B [Betnijah Laney] has struggled of late, but was 3-of-6 with four rebounds; Candice [Dupree] had 16 points. But most important, I thought T [Teaira McCowan] was huge for us. What a difference-maker she is becoming. Sometimes it's just her role to help activate a defense and set them in motion. Sometimes it doesn't show up on the stat sheet, but she's a difference maker like tonight. Just her presence makes the degree of difficulty a little tougher for opposing defenses. Like tonight, she played 18 minutes and got seven rebounds, but most importantly, she got to the free throw line eight times in the fourth quarter. That makes us better."

"Wheeler and Candice both were ready and vocal, and gave us great production in their minutes. It's noteworthy, too, that EW had just one turnover. She had a really nice bounce-back from a shaky past two games in terms of managing her ball movement."

"We probably changed our defensive schemes four times today. That's tough to do with a young team. We made Atlanta work for their shots, we tried to make them work to do anything they wanted to do. That's a goal of ours to be able to make changes like that more consistently."

Candice Dupree

(On closing out this game)

"I think it was just our defense, for sure. Just trying to keep everybody engaged on the defensive end. No miscues, no let-downs as to what defensive schemes we were running. That's where we get stops, get out and run, get some buckets in transition, hit free throws down the stretch."

(Will the time off help?)

"I hope so. You know, after long stretches, sometimes seems to come back a little rusty that next game. So hopefully that won't be us. You know, we'll have some good days of practice, give some people that play a lot of minutes an opportunity to rest and get ready for Washington again."

Erica Wheeler

"I think we played solid defense towards the end, even though Tiffany [Hayes] got off to a good start. She had a good game. We knew she would come out aggressive, but she was the only one that came out kind of aggressive. So, kind of contain her and make sure no one else got off. I think we played good defense down the stretch, made her take some tough shots. She hit a dagger three on the side that was tough, leaning out of bounds. That's good 'D'. That's just a great play that she had."

(On the ten-day layoff)

"I'm pretty sure everybody is going to rest, recover and take a mental break, because we need it. Then we'll have practice. We had a couple days to really dig deep into some schemes and tighten some things up."

ATLANTA QUOTES:

Head Coach Nicki Collen

"It's like Groundhog's day, quite frankly. We've taken leads into the fourth quarter, not big leads but small leads. Players make plays. Shot clock running down. [Erica} Wheeler throws one off the glass. Sometimes that's what it takes to win games in this league and to create separation. So, hats off to them. They made big shots late. They were open. [Kelsey] Mitchell made a big shot at the top of the key. Wheeler made all her free throws down the stretch. We just didn't have an answer when it comes to [Teaira] McCowan. We can't move her, you know. So, she was kind of a difference maker. Obviously, the game was lost at the free throw line, when you look at the box score. And we outshot them and the rebounding was fairly even, so it really came down to the free throw line."

Tiffany Hayes

"I think we fought hard. Unfortunate that we didn't win. They hit their free throws in the end. They hit some crazy shots in the end that went in. They got to the foul line way more than us and that gave them the game right there."

(On the difference between the first and second half)

"I don't know. I think it was a pretty tight game the whole time. I think we were down at halftime by two. But we kept it close. Like I said, we fought hard. Only thing that I remember was them shooting way more than us at the free throw line."

(On scoring a career-high)

"I would rather have a win, but I mean, it's pretty nice. Thirty-four points is cool. Like I said, we're struggling to get a win right now. We only have five. So if I could trade those points for a win, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Brittney Skyes

"It was a tough loss, but it was a hard-fought battle. Like coach said in the locker room talk to us, when we got in that one-possession, two-possession zone turning the game over to our side, they hit some big shots. You know, [Erica] Wheeler hit a shot off the backboard. Kelsey Mitchell hit a big shot, hit a big three. We tried our hardest. They went to the free throw line way more than we did. We just have to keep blocking out. It's a three-game road trip. So, Indy's done. We gotta move on to the next one. We have Vegas on Tuesday and we have Phoenix on Friday and we're in their house. So, we just have to make sure we are mentally and physically prepared for those games."

(On scoring her 1000th point)

"I mean, it's cool. It's bittersweet. I wish the 1000th point could have gone with a win, especially a win like this. A hard-fought one. You know, it's cool. My teammates do a great job of setting me up. Coach does a great job of putting the ball in my hands. Whether it's creating for my teammates or creating to score, I'm just blessed that I'm able to play to 1000 points. I hope it get 10,000 more."

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