Indiana Fever (16-15) at Connecticut Sun (11-20)

Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Time: 7:00 p.m. (EDT)
Site: Mohegan Sun Arena (Uncasville, CT)
Television: ESPN3.com

Probable Starters
Fever– F- Tamika Catchings, F-Marissa Coleman, C-Erlana Larkins, G- Erica Wheeler, G-Briann January
Connecticut– F- Alyssa Thomas, F- Camille Little, C- Chiney Ogwumike, G- Alex Bentley, G- Jasmine Thomas

Storylines & Promotion
• With their victory over the Washington Mystics Sunday afternoon, the Indiana Fever clinched a berth in the WNBA playoffs for the 12th consecutive season. The Fever extend their own WNBA record for the most consecutive playoff appearances, while their 12 straight trips to the postseason is the third-longest active streak in American professional sports (MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, NHL).

• With Sunday’s 80-73 road win at Washington, the Fever matched their longest winning streak of the season at three games and have won four of their last five and seven of the last 10 games overall.

• Although the Fever have secured a playoff spot, there is still much on the line over the final three regular season games this week. Indiana currently sits in fourth place by virtue of holding the regular season tiebreakers over Atlanta and Chicago. All three teams hold identical 16-15 records heading into the final week of play, with seventh place Seattle a game and a half behind with a 15-17 record.

• A new WNBA playoff format debuts this season, with the league’s top two overall seeds earning a bye into the best-of-five WNBA Semifinals (Sept. 28-Oct. 6). Teams seeded 5th through 8th participate in first-round elimination games on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Winners battle the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in second-round elimination games on Sunday, Sept. 25. Winners of second-round games reach the WNBA Semifinals (Sept. 28-Oct. 6). Semifinal winners advance to the WNBA Finals (Oct. 9-20).

• A fifth or sixth seed in the playoffs would ensure a home game in the WNBA’s new one-game, elimination format in the first round of the postseason. A fourth-place finish would give Indiana a first-round bye and a home game on Sunday, September 25 against the winner of the sixth/seventh place game.

• Playing their final road contest of the season, the Fever have locked up a winning record on the road for the third consecutive season and have a chance to earn their 10th road win of the season Tuesday night, which would set a new franchise record.

• On the brink of history, Tamika Catchings needs eight rebounds to pass Lisa Leslie (3,307) as the WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder.

• Shenise Johnson finished with 12 points off the bench and shot 3-for-3 from the free throw line in Sunday’s win. She has now made her last 32 free throw attempts, which now ranks as the second-longest streak in Fever franchise history. Catchings made 33 straight free throws during the 2010 season. Johnson ranks second in the WNBA this season in free throw percentage, shooting 92.9 percent from the foul line.

• Lynetta Kizer came off the bench to lead Indiana with 17 points on 8-for-13 shooting in Sunday’s victory. She has scored in double figures in each game of Indiana’s current three-game winning streak and a career-high 15 times overall this season.

• Erica Wheeler has averaged 16.5 points per game and shot 51 percent from the floor over the last two games.

• After dropping its last three contests, Connecticut has been eliminated from playoff contention. Before their recent skid, the Sun won five of their previous six games and had moved within two games of eighth place in the WNBA standings.

• Former Ben Davis High School standout Alex Bentley leads Connecticut in scoring with 13.2 points to go with 2.5 assists per game.

Last Meeting
(July 13, 2016) INDIANAPOLIS – In front of a home crowd of 12,272 fans, the Indiana Fever dug themselves an early hole, trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half before eventually tying the game just after halftime. But Indiana’s momentum was short-lived as Connecticut ended the third quarter on a 19-5 run to build its lead back to 14 points as the Sun cruised to their largest win of the season, an 86-64 road triumph over the Fever. Chiney Ogwumike led Connecticut with a game-high 20 points as she shot 10-for-12 from the free throw line in 29 minutes off the bench. Lynetta Kizer was the only Fever player to reach double figures as the forward shot 9-for-11 from the field for 18 points.

Series
The Fever and Sun have split two regular season meetings this season as each team has won on the other’s home court. Connecticut ended a six-game losing streak to Indiana with its road win over the Fever on July 13. The Fever have won their last three road games at Connecticut after losing eight straight in Uncasville from 2011-14. Indiana trails the overall series 28-35 with a 9-17 record all-time at Connecticut.