INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The road back to the playoffs for the defending WNBA champion Indiana Fever hasn’t been easy.
The Fever fell behind early in the season and had to endure injuries to several players. Still, they managed to persevere to return to the postseason for a ninth straight year.
Tamika Catchings had 15 points, six rebounds and four steals to help the Fever beat the Connecticut Sun 69-60 Saturday night, clinching another playoff berth.
“When we came in (the locker room) it was just like a relief,” Catchings said. “I would like to see us going into the playoffs on a winning streak.”
Erlana Larkins had 12 points and Jessica Breland added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Fever (15-16), who have won three of four.
Kelsey Griffin had 14 points and seven rebounds and Tan White had 13 points for Sun (8-23), who lost for the eighth time in their last nine games.
Rene Montgomery tied the score at 44-all before Catchings made two free throws and a jumper to give the Fever a 48-44 lead.
The Fever went on an 8-2 run in the fourth to take a 58-48 lead when Breland hit a free throw with 6:16 left.
“Indiana had better focus in the fourth quarter,” Connecticut coach Anne Donovan said. “The fourth quarter, the backboard hurt us. (And) both teams were on back-to-back games.”
Indiana was coming off a win at Chicago and Connecticut beat Washington at home on Friday.
After winning the season opener, the Fever lost seven straight. Indiana has had a .500 record just three times. The single win at the start of the year was the only time Indiana had a winning record.
And the Fever have dealt with injuries from the start.
“I’ve never had this many injuries,” Indiana coach Lin Dunn said. “But I’ve been in situations where injuries were huge. We’ve dealt with tough situations before and we know you fight through it.”
Indiana has had seven different starting lineups this year and Larkins is the only player to start every game. Seven of Indiana’s top scorers from the 2012 championship team have missed games, including forward Katie Douglas who has played in only two games because of a back injury.
Nine different Indiana players have combined to miss a total of 107 1/2 games. To help, the Fever signed three different replacement players this season, including Jasmine Hassell, who the Fever drafted in the second round this year, waived, and resigned three times. Breland was also signed and came through for Indiana on Saturday.
Breland put the game out of reach when she was fouled on a shot and scored a free throw to give Indiana 65-54 lead with 3:12 left.
“For us, we’ve talked about from the beginning of the season to now, and just how valuable (the bench) is to our team,” Catchings said. “Having the minutes they’ve had throughout the season brings us to this point where they’re confident enough to go in there and to make things happen.”
Indiana has three regular season games left before the start of the playoffs, including one more matchup at Connecticut on Sept. 15.
Lynx beat Storm 75-60, clinch tie for West title
SEATTLE (AP) Even as they’ve won six games in a row, Rebekkah Brunson and the Minnesota Lynx are making sure they don’t get too far ahead of themselves.
Brunson scored 19 points to help the Lynx beat the Seattle Storm 75-60 on Saturday night, clinching at least a tie for the Western Conference title.
“We’re not thinking about any streaks,” Brunson said. “I didn’t even realize that we had won six in a row. We’re just trying to fine-tune ourselves and get ready for the playoffs. We’re getting better, fixing the small things we need to, and we’re in a pretty good place.”
Seimone Augustus had 14 points, Maya Moore added 11 and Lindsay Whalen 10 to lead Minnesota (24-7), which can secure its third straight conference title outright with its next win or loss by second-place Los Angeles.
“It’s weird hearing that we’ve won six in a row. It doesn’t feel like it,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “It doesn’t feel like that long ago when we lost three in a row. It’s more of a testament to how we’re staying in the moment, not reading our clippings, and just really moving on to the next task.”
Minnesota’s next task is another matchup against the Storm here Tuesday night and then the Lynx visit the Sparks on Thursday. Minnesota and Los Angeles have split teams’ previous four meetings this season.
“Every little victory is celebrated,” Moore said. “We definitely know we’re a step closer, and we’re going to use that as momentum to give us that much more motivation for this next game.”
Tanisha Wright scored 17 of her 22 points in the first half for Seattle (15-16). Shekinna Stricklen added 12 points.
The Storm, who are assured of a postseason spot, can catch Phoenix for the No. 3 seed, but now trail the Mercury by two games with three left. If Seattle finishes fourth, it will likely face the Lynx – a team the Storm are 0-3 against this season – in a best-of-3 first-round series.
“I don’t know if we really played the way we have to play to beat this team,” Storm coach Brian Agler said. “Minnesota has proven to be the best team in the league right now. So we’re going to have to keep getting better.”
The Lynx used a 10-0 run in the first quarter to turn two-point deficit to a 19-11 lead. They extended the advantage to 34-16 in the second quarter.
However, Seattle closed the first half with a 17-6 run over the final 6 minutes to pull to 40-33 at the break.
Minnesota pushed the lead back to 15 by the end of the third quarter, and led by 18 in the fourth.
The Lynx, led by Brunson’s 7-for-12 performance, shot 46 percent from the field (31 for 67) and limited the Storm to just 36 percent (21 for 59). Seattle was just 2 of 16 from 3-point range.
“Seattle is particularly good at yanking 3s, and at our place, we were caught in rotation constantly,” Reeve said. “They made extra passes and got any 3-ball they wanted, so I thought tonight, we had a better focus on trying to keep their penetration under control so we could get our rotations.”
WNBA Roundup: Fever beat Sun, clinch 9th straight playoff berth / Lynx beat Storm 75-60, clinch tie for West title is a post from: PhatzRadio.com
