Seattle Storm (3-3) at Indiana Fever (3-2)
Date: Tuesday, June 11th
Time: 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Site: Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Live Stream: Twitter and WNBA League Pass
The Indiana Fever welcome the reigning WNBA champion Seattle Storm to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the final game of a four-game homestand. Indiana dropped to 3-2 on the season after a 94-87 loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday. Seattle also lost on Sunday, falling to the Chicago Sky 78-71 despite a pair of 20-point performances from Natasha Howard and Jewell Lloyd.
Kelsey Mitchell paced the Fever with 26 points and six assists against Phoenix, matching her career-high in both categories. Indiana shot 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from 3-point range and 92.9 percent (13-of-14) from the free throw line in the defeat. Howard and Lloyd were the only players to score more than eight points for Seattle, who was outrebounded by 23 against the Sky.
Probable Starters
Fever: F – Betnijah Laney, F – Candice Dupree, C – Natalie Achonwa, G – Kelsey Mitchell, G – Erica Wheeler
Mercury: F –Alysha Clark, F –Natasha Howard, C –Mercedes Russell, G –Jewell Lloyd, G –Jordin Canada
NOTES
- The Fever have three wins in their first five games for the first time since 2012, when they went on to win the WNBA championship.
- Seattle leads the all-time series with Indiana by a single game, 20-19. The Storm took all three meetings between the teams in 2018 and are 5-1 against the Fever over the past two seasons.
- Storm guard Shavonte Zellous returns to Indianapolis, where she spent six seasons as a member of the Fever and was named an All-Star in 2013. Zellous will be honored as a member of the Fever’s 20th anniversary team.
- In addition to Zellous, current Storm assistant coach Gary Kloppenburg and athletic trainer Todd Champlin return as former members of Indiana’s coaching staff. Kloppenburg spent six years with the Fever and Champlin was with the team for seven.
- The Fever posted a 2-1 mark in their first three home games. They won two games at home all of last season.
- Indiana scored 59 points in the second half against the Mercury, the most by any WNBA team in any half this season. Kelsey Mitchell scored 22 points after halftime and Tiffany Mitchell had 14 in the fourth quarter.
- Kelsey Mitchell tied her career-high with 26 points and six assists on Sunday. Mitchell has hit at least four 3-pointers in two of her last three games.
- The Fever knocked down 10 3-pointers as a team, tying their highest total from last season. They hit 10 in a loss at Las Vegas on Aug. 11, 2018.
- Indiana has shot better than 90 percent from the free throw line in its past two games. The Fever followed up a 20-of-21 performance against Dallas with a 13-of-14 showing against Phoenix.
- Rookie Kennedy Burke reached double-figures for the first time in her career with 18 points in the loss to Phoenix. Burke was 7-of-8 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the arc.
- Burke and Tiffany Mitchell combined for 35 points off the bench. It was the third time in the Fever’s five games that two reserves scored in double-figures.
- Erica Wheeler has recorded at least five assists in each game this season. Wheeler ranks second in the WNBA with 6.8 assists per game.
- With a win over Seattle, Indiana will get its fourth victory of the season in six games. In 2018, it took the team 27 games to reach that mark.