Katie Douglas lifts Indiana Fever over Tulsa Shock 82-74: WNBA Recap Part -2
First Quarter
Indiana Fever stormed into the court with all guns blazing and went on a 5-0 run to establish an early lead. Tulsa Shock were held scoreless for nearly three minutes before Sheryl Swoopes finally broke the deadlock with a two at
the 08:53 mark. Indiana responded on the next possession and stretched their lead to 7-2.
Kayla Pedersen then hit a three-pointer to cut the Tulsa’s deficit to two, 7-5 however Smith nailed in a jumper on the other end to make it 9-5 for the Fever. Jennifer Lacy responded with a three-pointer and Swoopes followed with
a jump shot as Shock nudged ahead by 10-9 midway through the frame.
Trailing by 12-13 with 03:31 left in the first, Indiana responded with nine unanswered points and raced onto a 20-12 lead. Tulsa fought back and cut the margin to five points, 21-16, with 01:08 remaining in the quarter; however
Jessica Davenport’s turnaround bank shot and a free throw widened Fever’s lead to 24-16.
Second Quarter
Tulsa rattled a 9-2 run early in the second and made it a one point game over, 26-25. However, Indiana recovered and by the time 01:50 were left in the first half they took a 42-37 lead. The Shock never backed off though and maintained
their up-tempo game. They scored six consecutive points in the last one and half minute of the quarter to take a 43-42 lead at halftime.
Third Quarter
Both teams could not add to the scoreboard in the first minute of the third quarter but Pedersen hit a three pointer at 08:30 mark to make it 46-42 in favour of Tulsa. Shocks maintained the momentum and were leading by 50-46 with
05:49 to go in the third.
Tamika Catchings’ nailed a three-pointer for Fever and Smith followed with a shot from charity stripe to tie the game at 50 with 05:05 left in the quarter. Both of the teams played a very close game in the next three minutes but
3-pointers by Katie Douglas and Briann January gave Fever a 61-58 lead. Lacy responded with a jumper for Shock and trimmed the deficit to 61-60, heading into the fourth.
Fourth Quarter
Tulsa led the Fever 65-64early in the piece. However, Fever overcame that short deficit by playing better defence and went on a 13-5 run to seal the win.
The star of the night Katie Douglas, who scored a game-high 22 points in the victory, showed her deep concern about the poor performance of the Shock this season and said, "It's extremely important," "This league is getting better
and better each night and there's just an enormous amount of talent and with Tulsa not winning a game, they looked like a heck of a ball team out there."
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