Tamika Catchings leads Indiana Fever past Connecticut Sun, 69-58 - WNBA Recap
On Friday night, Indiana Fever overcame the absence of their All-Star guard Katie Douglas and stormed back into the first position in the Eastern Conference with a 69-58 victory over Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Fever
are now three wins ahead of their nearest conference rival Connecticut, whose four-game winning streak was also snapped on the night.
Douglas, who is averaging 14.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game this season, missed her first game of this season with fever.
In her absence, Fever’s forward Tamika Catchings took over and had a game-high 16 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Catchings pinned a perfect 5 of 5 free throws and 3 of 3 three-pointers. Shannon Bobbitt came
off the bench with 13 points, a game best five steals, five assists and four rebounds in the victory. Centre Jessica Davenport recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Fever, who have won two of their previous five games. Jeanette Pohlen
also scored 10 points and pulled down rebounds for the winners.
Indiana coach Lin Dunn praised the great contribution of her guard Pohlen and said, "We have a lot of confidence in Jeanette Pohlen. We think we got a great draft pick. We think she is a great. She is a shooting guard, defends,
runs the floor and knocks down the 3. She has a lot of playing time in big games.”
Tina Charles once again led Connecticut with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Renee Montgomery had 10 points and three assists in the loss. It was a poor shooting night for both the teams. Indiana shot just 32.8 from the field while
Connecticut ended at 30.6 percent. However, the Fever were better on the glass, grabbing 48 rebounds as compared to 39 by Sun.
Indiana scored the first four points of the opening period and went on a 6-2 run in the last two and half minutes of the quarter to take a 14-9 lead into the second.
In the second quarter, Fever pulled away and stretched their lead to 17 points, 34-17 with 02:24 to go in the quarter. Connecticut however responded with eight answered points in the last two minutes of the second period and trimmed
their deficit to nine, 34-25, heading into the third quarter. The third quarter proved to be a close affair. Sun continued their and managed to slash the deficit by three more points.
Sun continued to give Fever scares in the fourth quarter and cut the margin to four few times, but fell short down the stretch as Indiana held on to a win.
Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said at the end of the game, “We wasted a really good defensive effort. We had an opportunity. Indiana was missing their leading scorer. I thought we played terrific defence but we couldn't make
a shot to save our life.”
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