WNBA Recap • Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky
Allstate Arena (Chicago, Ill.) • 7:00 p.m. CT • July 6, 2010

                                    1st        2nd       3rd       4th        Final
Indiana Fever (9-6)         25         14         6          13         58
at Chicago Sky (8-9)      12         9          22         8          51

Notes:

• Indiana beat Chicago for the fourth straight time. The Sky lost for just the second time in six games, both to the Fever within the past nine days.
 
• Coupled with a Connecticut loss, the Fever moved into third place in rugged Eastern Conference standings.

• Despite coming all the way back from an 18-point deficit, the Sky never took a lead. Chicago tied the score 47-47 on a Cathrine Kraayeveld basket with 7:28 remaining, but Indiana scored 11 of the game’s last 15 points – eight by Tully Bevilaqua who scored a season-high 13 points.

• Tamika Catchings led the Fever with 16 points and Jessica Davenport added 10. Tammy Sutton-Brown scored eight points with a season-high 10 rebounds.

• Chicago’s Sylvia Fowles, named earlier in the day as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, had game highs of 26 points and 18 rebounds. The rest of the Sky roster totaled 25 points and 16 rebounds.

• With Indiana leading 45-27 after a jumper by Davenport with 3:53 left in the third period, Chicago scored 16 unanswered points to close the quarter and pull within just a basket heading to the fourth. The Sky continued its run with a fast break layup by Mistie Bass to open the 4th and knot the score at 45, but Tammy Sutton-Brown ended the Indiana drought with a bucket with 8:30 remaining.

• Fever blitzed the Sky with a 25-point first quarter to lead 25-12. Indiana shot 59 percent from the floor in the opening half and the Fever’s 39-21 lead at intermission lead was its largest lead of the half.

• The Fever has had at least one double-figure scorer off the bench in 11 of 16 games.

Quotes:

Fever coach Lin Dunn – “We got off to a really good start tonight. We shot really well, but we knew [Chicago] had a come back left in them. A real key for us was adjustments we made in the last 4-5 minutes and Fowles didn’t score the rest of the way. They’re a really good team. This was a huge win for us.”

Tamika Catchings on scoring tonight (she had a season-low 4 points in last week’s game here): “For me, it was more or less getting to the basket and opening opportunities for me and my teammates.”

Tamika Catchings on USA Olympic teammate Sylvia Fowles: “Sylvia’s just a beast. They kept going to her and getting the ball down low to her. She’s always a priority for us. She got her points tonight, but she had to earn them.”;

Tamika Catchings on the key to Indiana’s defense: “I think the key to our defense is helping each other. We know where everybody is and we help each other out all over the floor. We take pride in our defense and we play as one unit.”

Tamika Catchings on withstanding the Chicago comeback: “That’s a sign of a great team. We showed some perserverence. We have made huge strides as a team. They came all the way back, but we never let them take the lead. We kept our poise and composure. That was a great sign for us.”