Indiana Fever put up valiant fourth quarter effort to defeat New York Liberty â€" WNBA Recap
Indiana Fever played a spectacular final quarter to run away with a 76-63 victory over the New York Liberty here at the Prudential Center on Thursday night.
Indiana outscored New York 27-17 in the final period to take the victory, after both teams played neck to neck in the first three quarters of the game.
Tamika Catchings scored a game high 22 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists to lead Indiana to victory. Cappie Pondexter scored 18 points and 8 rebounds for New York, while Essence Carson came off the bench to go 8 of 13 from the field and finish with 18 points as well. However, Pondexter and Carson’s efforts were not enough to secure the victory for New York.
"This was a game we needed to win. We came out really focused and determined to do a good job. I don't think we started the game off the way that we should've and are capable of. The third quarter in the first couple of minutes, we got the rhythm getting up and down the court,†said Catchings after the game.
Both teams started the game slightly rusty, scoring only a combined 25 points in the opening period. After Katie Douglas scored a three pointer to give Indiana a 9-6 lead, Fever went scoreless for the next four minutes and forty three seconds.
New York also only managed 2 points during that period, failing to capitalize on the scoring drought of their opponents. The Fever scored 8 quick points to open the 2nd period and extended their lead to 22-15 early on. New York played catch up with Indiana the rest of the period, but did a good job to stay close and within striking distance. Indiana led 30-26 at halftime.
A 6-2 run by Indiana to open the third period extended their lead to 36-28, and a layup by Tammy Sutton-Brown later in the period put Indiana up by 10. However, New York went on a 10-5 run near the end of the period, and Indiana’s lead was cut to 49-46.
Four straight points by Jessica Davenport put Indiana ahead by 10 once again with 7:38 left in the game. New York tried to come back into the game after that but consistent scoring by the Fever ensured they cruised to a comfortable 76-63 victory in the end. Indiana scored 27 points in the final quarter.
Douglas finished with 15 points for Indiana while Shavonte Zellous had 11 for the night. Nicole Powell finished with 12 points, 5 rebound and 3 assists for New York.
Indiana went 8 of 19 from three point range, while New York was only 5 of 15. They also had 21 free throw attempts as compared to only 3 for New York, and scored on 14 of those attempts. New York outrebounded Indiana 35-25, but Indiana had a 14-4 advantage in steals. New York committed 21 turnovers in the game, while Indiana took care of the ball to reduce their turnovers to only 8.
"We turn the ball over 21 times, any team would capitalize off that and Indiana did. We were a step slow and it could be a number of reasons, coming off a nine-day round trip and one day to prepare,†said Pondexter after the game.
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