WNBA: Fever 91, Liberty 68; Indiana now 4-0
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Editor
Indiana’s bench might have outscored New York’s entire team with a few more minutes of action.
The Fever’s reserves outscored New York’s 52-18 in a 91-68 win on Saturday night. None of Indiana’s starters played more than 23 minutes, and it wasn’t because they needed time off.
A jackpot bench, Indiana coach Lin Dunn said. And I made it clear that I let them play longer not to rest the starters, but to reward them for how well they were playing. I made that clear in the locker room. Their defensive intensity was at such a high level. I thought they did a good job against New York’s starters, therefore, I let them play.
Tamika Catchings scored 16 points, reserve Roneeka Hodges scored 15, reserve Jeanette Pohlen scored 12 and Katie Douglas added 11 for Indiana (4-0).
The Fever tied a franchise record with 13 3-pointers.
We’ve got great shooters on this team, which everybody knows, so being able to share the ball with each other – I think that’s the great thing about this team, Catchings said. We’re great at penetrating and being able to find the open player.
The Fever made 22 of 27 free throws and committed just 12 turnovers.
You have to give Indiana the credit, New York coach John Whisenant said. They’re a hard team to play.
Plenette Pierson scored 24 points on 10-for-13 shooting for the Liberty (0-5). Cappie Pondexter, New York’s leading scorer for the season, finished with 13 points on 4-for-15 shooting. Pierson and Pondexter were the only Liberty players to score in double figures.
New York’s past four losses have all been by double digits, by a combined 82 points.
Indiana, which entered the game as the No. 2 scoring team in the league, shot 47 percent from the field.
The Fever shot just 6-for-19 from the field in the first quarter but made enough free throws to tie the score at 20 by the end of the period.
Indiana shot 10-for-16 in the second quarter to take a 49-36 halftime lead. Catchings scored 14 points in the first half and Hodges scored eight in the second quarter. The Fever made 6 of 13 3-pointers in the first half.
New York cut Indiana’s lead to nine points early in the third quarter before the Fever rallied. A 3-pointer by Shavonte Zellous pushed Indiana’s lead to 60-45 and forced the Liberty to call a timeout.
Catchings disagreed with a foul call, then made contact with an official and was issued a technical foul. New York made all three free throws to cut Indiana’s lead to 12.
The Fever made 5 of 7 3-pointers in the third quarter and led 75-61 at the end of the period. Four different Indiana players – Douglas, Zellous, Erin Phillips and Hodges – made at least one 3-pointer in the quarter.
Pohlen made a 3-pointer to push the lead to 82-61 and force another timeout by New York. The Liberty went scoreless for the first 5:22 of the fourth quarter and missed their first six shots. The Liberty scored just seven points in the final period.
There was no celebrating – the teams play again Sunday at New York, and the Fever will head out on a 7:30 a.m. flight.
Win four games to start off, it’s a great thing and it’s exciting, but you don’t want to lose focus on what we have to continue to do, Catchings said. Everybody’s still trying to feel their own teams out. Once they start to, we don’t want to stay at the same spot that we’re in, we want to continue to get better.
