A whirlwind Indiana Fever season continued on Friday as the Fever hosted the Washington Mystics in the final game of a three-game homestand. Indiana left Gainbridge Fieldhouse with its fourth loss in five games, falling 88-84, but the belief in the Fever locker room isn’t wavering.

“You can never really control the outside things,” Sophie Cunningham said after the loss. “You can’t control injuries, and so that’s why you really do have control over [your] mental and control what you can control.”

Indiana’s carousel of point guards continues to turn after the Fever added 11-year veteran Odyssey Sims on a hardship contract following the injuries to Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson. The Fever also added guard Kyra Lambert on a 7-day contract. With Caitlin Clark sidelined indefinitely, more pressure than ever rests on the shoulders of Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston to power the team’s high-octane offense.

While Mitchell and Boston are capable playmakers and offensive hubs themselves, a true table-setter allows the Fever stars to play their most effective games. Mitchell thrives in an off-ball role – she’s able to be dynamic off of screens, cuts and has a presence that draws defenses out of position as she scrambles around the court. But that type of play takes an immense amount of energy, and on a roster struggling with the health of its guards, Mitchell’s responsibilities overflow.

“Kelsey is just, she’s just a baller,” coach Stephanie White said ahead of Friday’s matchup with the Mystics. “She just plays…I’m incredibly proud of Kelsey because every time we’ve had a setback or an injury, we’ve had to depend on her more and more. Not just for scoring, which she’s had to carry us at times, but for playmaking.”

“And her decision-making has been really good. Her ability to find her teammates has been excellent while keeping her turnovers down, and she’s just continued to embrace every part of and every role that we need her to play, and not just embrace it, but excel in it.”

Mitchell tied her career-high assist mark on Friday with nine, complementing her 14 points in the Fever’s loss to the Mystics. She powered through several physical plays, including one in which she took an elbow to the face while defending the paint. Mitchell popped up after the play and ran down the floor on offense.

Boston’s sacrifices, though more subtle, are still evident. Inconsistency at the lead guard position eats into her touches on offense as it becomes more difficult to create opportunities to get the ball down to the post.

Boston still found a way to make it work on Friday as she tallied 20 points and nine rebounds on 8-for-13 shooting.

Sims was more comfortable in her second game with her new squad – she notched 11 points along with two rebounds and three assists. But the Fever have dropped four of their last five contests and are set to travel to Connecticut for a matchup with the Sun on Sunday as they attempt to stop the skid.

“To be frank, I don’t think anyone else around the league thinks that we can do it anymore,” Cunningham said after Friday’s loss. “But I think that our group does, and I think that we just have to get that confidence back…For us, it’s just remembering who we are. It’s our identity.”

The key to that identity is rediscovering a potent offense that is fueled by a gritty defense. Though the schemes change with personnel, Indiana still has tools to find success on both ends of the floor – but it starts with execution.

“I think that the biggest thing for us on the defensive end was just too much fouling,” White said.

Indiana committed 21 total personal fouls, leading to 26 free throws for the Mystics. Fourteen of those attempts from the line came in a critical fourth quarter.

“I think that the great thing about our position is that we control our destiny,” White said. “But we’ve got to understand the sense of urgency that it takes…and recognize that the margin is small.”

The Fever travel to Connecticut for a game with the Sun before returning to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday, Aug. 22, to take on the league-leading Minnesota Lynx.