INDIANAPOLIS – Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell scored 23 points Friday night to keep her atop the WNBA leaderboard recording nine games with at least 20 points in a 97-83 loss to the New York LIberty. Mitchell started out with 15 points in the first quarter, and finished with eight points on 4-of-7 shooting in the second half. With her 137th consecutive game played on Friday, she is now one game away from tying the franchise record held by Tamika Catchings at 138.
Fever forward NaLyssa Smith finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, her ninth game with at least 10 points. Victoria Vivians also had her ninth game scoring in double figures, ending with 11 points, four assists, and three steals.
In the final game of the regular-season series, Indiana committed a season-low five turnovers and outscored New York, 19-4, on second-chance points.
The first quarter started off competitive, with the Fever forcing six turnovers and leading 22-18 after the opening quarter. Vivians and Tiffany Mitchell briefly left the game with injuries in the first before returning in the second quarter. Indiana held the Liberty to 2-of-11 from beyond the arc in the first half and owned a 43-38 halftime lead.
Coming out of the break, New York began the third on an 11-3 run to take a three-point lead at the 7:17 mark. New York would continue to grow the lead on the way to a 34-point quarter, the highest-scoring quarter from the Liberty this season.
In the fourth quarter, New York would put the game out of reach with seven three-pointers, including three from Marine Johannes in her season debut. New York finished 11-of-17 from beyond the arc in the second half alone.
For New York, Natasha Howard led the game with 25 points on 12-of-16 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and five assists. Han Xu scored a career-high 16 points off the bench. Sabrina Ionescu ended with 13 points, six assists, and seven rebounds. Johannes finished with 11 points.
UP NEXT
The Fever will face its first Western Conference opponent on the road this season at the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s game will be streamed on the official Indiana Fever Facebook page in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.