INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever (12-26) fell to the Chicago Sky, 96-69, on Tuesday night in the final matchup between the two teams this season. The Sky gained the lead at the 8:06 mark in the first quarter and never trailed again.
Indiana was led by forward NaLyssa Smith’s 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting and seven rebounds on the night. Kelsey Mitchell followed behind with 10 points and two assists, while Emma Cannon came off the bench to also contribute 10 points.
Rookie guard Grace Berger dished out a career-high six assists to go along with six rebounds and four points. Maya Caldwell tied a season-high six points, while Aliyah Boston, Victoria Vivians and Erica Wheeler also pitched in six points a piece.
After Mitchell netted the first bucket of the game 30 seconds after tipoff, Chicago went on to lead Indiana on an 11-0 run through the next five minutes. Mitchell supported the Fever comeback effort with seven points in the first frame. The Sky led the Fever, 18-9, at the end of the quarter.
Following the lowest-scoring first quarter of the season, the Fever opened the second frame 6-of-6 from the floor and closed the deficit to five points on one occasion. Smith led the way for Indiana by notching 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the court, while Wheeler added four points on a 2-of-2 shooting clip. Indiana closed the second frame shooting 66.7 percent (10-of-15) from the floor but trailed Chicago, 49-34, at halftime.
Chicago started the second half shooting 5-of-5 from the floor and eventually led the Fever on a 15-4 scoring run in the third frame. In the fourth quarter, Indiana shot 50 percent from the court (6-of-12) and tied the Sky, 20-20, in scoring, highlighted by Cannon’s six points.
For the Sky, Chicago’s four scorers who ended the night in double-figures were led by Kahleah Copper’s 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. Copper also netted four 3-pointers on six attempts to guide Chicago to tying its season-high 14 completed 3-pointers.
Marina Mabrey and Courtney Williams both added 17 points in the win. Williams also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, while Mabrey led the team with six assists. In addition, Robyn Parks added 11 points.
UP NEXT
The Fever play the final road game of the regular season on Friday at the Connecticut Sun at 7 p.m. ET. Friday’s game will be broadcast on ION.