Date: Friday, June 5, 2015

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. CT)
Site: Allstate Arena (Chicago, Ill.)
Radio: 107.5/1070 The Fan
Television: None
Webcast: Live webcast and stats can be accessed via WNBA Live Access on FeverBasketball.com

(Webcasts during games televised on FOX Sports Indiana may not be available in local market areas due to blackout restrictions.)

Storylines & Promotions

• Indiana (0-0) meets the Chicago Sky (0-0) in the season-opening game for both teams. The game tips off what is the 16th season in Indiana Fever franchise history, and it is a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. Chicago won the series 2-1 and advanced to its first Finals in franchise history.

• Indiana completed a two-game preseason slate with a 1-1 record. The Fever participated in a preseason tournament played at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. There, Indiana fell to Connecticut, 76-68. In the team’s final preseason game played at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum, the Fever defeated the Washington Mystics in a close 76-74 battle.

• Indiana looks for redemption Friday night, as the Fever go for their fourth opening-night victory in the last five years. In 2014, Chicago defeated Indiana 74-71. Indiana downed San Antonio on the road in 2013, 79-64, and beat Atlanta at home in 2012, 92-84. The Fever beat the Sky at home in 2011, 65-57. The Fever are 10-5 all-time in season openers.

• This is the second consecutive year that Indiana opens its season on the road at Chicago. Last year, then rookie first-round draft pick Natasha Howard made her Fever debut against the Sky, where she lit up for 16 points (6-of-16 FG), 10 rebounds, three steals, a pair of assists and a record-tying six blocked shots. The blocked shots tied the WNBA record in a rookie debut and also tied the team’s franchise record. Shavonte Zellous added 14 for the Fever.

• June 5, 2015 marks Stephanie White’s first game as Indiana Fever head coach. White was announced to take over for coaching legend Lin Dunn in September 2014. She spent the last four seasons with the Fever as an assistant and associate head coach.

• Natalie Achonwa, a rookie out of Notre Dame, makes her WNBA debut Friday evening, and Briana Butler and Shenise Johnson appear in Fever uniform for the first time against the Sky. Jeanette Pohlen plays in her first game for the Fever since the 2013 season due to injury. Shavonte Zellous is absent from the team, as she competes with Croatia in the FIBA European Championships, June 11-28.

• Indiana opens the season with a couple of injury concerns that will be monitored in the early going.

Probable Starters

Fever – F- Tamika Catchings, F- Marissa Coleman, C- Erlana Larkins, G- Shenise Johnson, G- Briann January

Sky – F- Jessica Breland, F- Tamera Young, C- Sasha Goodlett, G- Elena Delle Donne, G- Courtney Vandersloot

Last Meeting

The Sky earned themselves a spot in the WNBA Finals after defeating the Fever last September in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Chicago outscored Indiana in three out of four quarters en route to a 75-62 victory. Coming off the bench, the Sky’s Allie Quigley led all scorers with 24 points, 10 of which came in a key second quarter for the team. Despite Shavonte Zellous’s team-high 16 points, the team was unable to put together a significant stretch of offensive successes aside from Marissa Coleman’s 3-pointer with 7:06 left in the first half to put the Fever up 17-16. That was Indiana’s only lead of the night.

Last Games

Fever: Marissa Coleman scored 19 points to lead the Indiana Fever past the Washington Mystics, 76-74, in the final preseason game for both teams. Layshia Clarendon’s 10-foot jumper with 1:14 to play staked Indiana to its final lead and broke a deadlock at 69. Coleman shot 5-of-13 from the floor, and 9-of-10 from the foul line. Clarendon and Briana Butler each tallied 13 points, and Natasha Howard had 12 for Indiana. Nineteen of the Fever’s first 21 points were scored by returning stars Coleman and Howard, until 3-pointers by Butler and Sydney Carter spread the scoring.

Sky: Chicago beat the China Olympic Team at Mohegan Sun Arena for its final preseason game May 28, 92-59. The Sky jumped to a 9-1 edge in the first four minutes and went on to lead 22-12 after one quarter, and took a 52-23 lead into halftime. Chicago led by as many as 39 points in the third quarter and didn’t let up for the remainder of the contest. Elena Delle Donne finished the game with 18 points (8-of-11 FG) in 11 minutes to lead all scorers. The Sky saw scoring contributions from all 15 athletes on the active roster.

Series

Indiana owns a 30-8 overall record against the Sky since Chicago’s first season in 2006. The Fever are 13-6 on the road against the Sky and 9-3 at Allstate Arena. Since 2010 including postseason, the Fever are 22-6 against Chicago overall, including a 12-2 record at home and 10-4 on the road. In 2010 and 2012, Indiana swept the Sky in the regular and post seasons. Last season, the teams both won four games apiece extending into the postseason.