The Indiana Fever started Thursday night's game against the San Antonio Silver Stars in fine form. That bore little resemblance to the Fever in the second half in an 88-72 loss at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Tamika Catchings posted a double-double in a losing effort with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Katie Douglas led the team in scoring with 19 points on 6-of-21 shooting, and Briann January added 16 points and three assists.
''I thought we played a great first half; we won the first half,'' Fever coach Lin Dunn said. ''They sure as heck won the second half. I hope it's a good lesson for us, that if you don't play two full halves, you can let something really valuable slip away.''
Indiana (8-6) trailed San Antonio (9-5) 68-65 with 5:43 remaining. The Fever had a 15-point lead over the Silver Stars at the half.
San Antonio guard Becky Hammon took over and scored the next five points. By the time San Antonio guard Danielle Robinson closed the 10-2 run with a 13-foot jumper, the Fever trailed 78-67 with 3:20 remaining and couldn't make up the difference.
''We were high energy in the first half, first 20 minutes,'' Douglas said. ''They looked disrupted. They just kind of flipped the script on us in the second half.''
Hammon led San Antonio with 19 points. She came into Thursday's game leading the WNBA in assists per game at 5.8. She had just three Thursday night.
Jia Perkins came off San Antonio's bench with 17 points. Robinson finished with 14 points and five assists and forward Sophia Young had 15 points to go along with eight rebounds.
''It's just frustrating because we're too good of a team to be in situations like this,'' Catchings said. ''Every game that we've lost for the most part, it's been a lot of (our fault). . . . When you look around this locker room and you look at the players we have, it's just disappointing losing games like this.''
Indiana guard Erin Phillips left the game after the first half. She received an elbow late in the second quarter on a rebound and experienced concussion-like symptoms.
''I thought losing Erin at the half hurt us,'' Dunn said. ''She'll probably be day-to-day now. We've got a new player (Karima Christmas), but she doesn't even know my name, much less the plays, so we didn't want to throw her in there.''
Former Fever player Tully Bevilaqua returned to Bankers Life for what could be the final time. She announced that this season, her 14th, would be her last.
''I've got some good mates still on the Fever team,'' Bevilaqua said. ''It definitely pulls at the heartstrings.''
Bevilaqua, who still has a house in Indy and opened a business called Gym 41 on West 86th Street, received a standing ovation before and after the game.
Contact Star reporter James Oldham on Twitter at @BuckeyeWriter23 or call him at (317) 444-6644.
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