SEATTLE – The Indiana Fever (5-7) defeated the Seattle Storm on the road Thursday night, 80-68, after closing out the game holding Seattle to 3-of-22 shooting from the floor in the final ten minutes. Following wins at Minnesota and Chicago, Thursday’s win for Indiana marked the first time winning three straight road games for the franchise since July 2016.

Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell led all scorers in the matchup as she contributed a season-high 25 points and knocked down a season-high seven three-pointers. NaLyssa Smith followed behind as she recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Smith also set a new career-high with 12 defensive rebounds.

Fever rookie forward Aliyah Boston had nine points and 11 rebounds on the night, while Erica Wheeler pitched in 10 points. Boston, Wheeler and Kristy Wallace each distributed five assists. Emma Cannon also provided support off the bench as she recorded a near double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds, which were both season-highs.

To open the game, five players contributed in the scoring effort in the first quarter and were guided by Mitchell who pitched in eight points. In addition, Smith and Wallace both pulled down four rebounds each. The Fever gained a small lead as they pulled away midway through the quarter, but a Storm 6-0 scoring run erased the gap as the first frame ended with a tie game, 23-23.

The back-and-forth play continued throughout the second quarter, as the first five minutes of the quarter featured four lead changes. After being held scoreless during the first ten minutes, Smith rattled off 10 points in the second frame on 4-of-5 shooting and pulled down five rebounds. Indiana took possession of the lead with roughly six minutes remaining in the half and sustained it to go into halftime ahead, 48-44.

In the third quarter, Mitchell shot 3-of-4 from behind the three-point arc as she pitched in six points within the quarter. A completed three-pointer from Mitchell with seconds to go gave the Fever an eight point lead and entered the final minutes of the game, 67-59.

Indiana extended its lead with a 17-0 scoring run that started midway through the third quarter and stretched into the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. During the scoring drought beginning with 4:11 left in the third quarter, Seattle did not score over the next 10:23 of game action and went 0-for-22 during the stretch. The Storm were held to 3-of-22 shooting and nine points total in the fourth quarter.

For Seattle, the Storm were led by guard Jewell Loyd with 19 points and Ezi Magbegor with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Ivana Dojkíc added 11 points and dished out a team-high six assists. The Storm offense was held to 29.7 percent shooting (22-of-74) and Loyd, who was averaging 26.2 points per game entering Thursday, was held to 5-of-21 shooting.

Indiana, the league’s third-best rebounding team, recorded a season-high 47 total rebounds as they outrebounded Seattle, 47-29, in the win.

UP NEXT
The Fever face the Las Vegas Aces for a pair of games starting on Saturday 10 p.m. ET. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on the official Indiana Fever Facebook page.