Tamika Catching stars as Indiana Fever edge past Atlanta Dream– WNBA Recap
Tamika Catchings led the Indiana Fever to a win over the Atlanta Dream here on Sunday at the Philips Arena. Indiana won 78-62 as Catchings had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the night.
This was the 73rd career double-double for Catchings, which places her on fifth position in the WNBA’s career list. However, Catchings is more focused towards a championship ring than personal laurels.
“I want to win a championship. For me, every single game, every single practice is about trying to help this team get better and get closer to our final goal” said Catchings after the game.
Angel McCoughtry led Dream in scoring, managing 21 points and 4 rebounds for the night. Atlanta defeated the Fever in the Eastern Conference Semi Finals last season and got some semblance of revenge for that loss on the night.
Atlanta got off to a good start, taking a 13-4 lead to open the game. They led 22-13 at the close of the first period. A driving jump shot followed by a free throw by Catchings tied the game for the first time at28 with 5:49 left
in the half. Catchings’ three point play capped off an 8-0 run by the Fever, who led 39-35 at halftime.
Fever kept the momentum alive in the third period, opening it with a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 48-37. Katie Douglas scored a three pointer and followed it up with a layup shot to score 5 straight points and extend Indiana’s
lead to 17. They were up 62-49 at the close of the third period. A driving layup by Lindsey Harding brought Atlanta within 7 points with 4:51 left in the game. But Indiana closed the game on a 9-0 run to grab a comfortable 78-62 win at the end.
Atlanta failed to score in the last 4 minutes of the game. Their last point was a free throw by McCoughtry with 4:10 left in the game. Dream then committed 4 turnovers and missed three field goal attempts in the closing minutes
to hand Indiana the victory.
Katie Douglas had 16 points and 7 rebounds for Indiana, going 6 of 17 from the field. Davenport had 12 points and 4 rebounds coming off the bench and Shavonte Zellous had 9 points for the night. Harding had 13 points and Sancho
Lyttle added 11 points and 9 rebounds for Atlanta. Yelena Leuchanka also added 10 points and 4 rebounds, going 3 of 5 from the field.
Indiana shot 34.7% from the field against 42.2% for Atlanta. They, however, took 72 field goal attempts compared to only 45 for Atlanta. Indiana were 4 of 19 from the distance while Atlanta went 1 of 9. They were outrebounded by
Indiana 39-29 in rebounds and had only 7 assists for the game against 15 for Indiana. Fever had 14 assists compared to 4 for Atlanta only 8 turnovers against 22 turnovers for Dream, with 4 coming in the final 4 minutes.
"I know for me and speaking for the rest of us, looking at this season and knowing what we want to do, ultimately our goal is to win a championship. I thought our energy was really low to start the game. I don't know if because
it was an early game or whatever the case may be, but we can't afford to have starts like that” said Catchings after the game
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