Indiana (10-8) vs. Sun (9-8)

Date: Sunday, August 2, 2015
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Site: Bankers Life Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Radio: 107.5/1070 The Fan
Television: FOX Sports Indiana
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 & Promotion

• Following an 84-72 win against the New York Liberty last Wednesday, Indiana looks for its third consecutive win when it faces Connecticut, Sunday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Two of the Fever’s last three games have been played against the Sun.
• The win against the Liberty marked Indiana’s fifth straight victory at home – the longest regular season home winning streak since the Fever won six straight at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in 2012.
• Indiana finished the month of July with a 6-2 record, the Fever’s best record in a single month since they went 6-1 in August of the 2012 season.
• The Fever won the rebounding battle 32-27 against New York, who entered the game as the top rebounding team in the WNBA with an average of 38.8 rebounds per game.
• Shenise Johnson fell one point shy of her career high with a season-best 19 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds versus the Liberty. Johnson has scored in double figures in seven of her last eight appearances, averaging 13.3 points per game on 47.6 percent shooting over that span.
• Briann January finished with 12 points, all in the second half, and a season-high eight assists against New York. Her eight assists also marks the highest assist total by any Fever player this season. January is tied for eighth in the league with 3.4 assists per game.
• Tamika Catchings has recorded 11 steals over the last three games and needs only 19 more to become the only player in league history to reach 1,000 thefts in a WNBA career. She ranks seventh in league with 1.60 per game.
• Maggie Lucas scored her 200th career point in the game against New York. She now has 203 points in a Fever uniform heading into the matchup with the Sun. Lucas ranks first in the East and third overall in 3-point field goal percentage shooting 42 percent (21-of-50) from beyond the arc.
• Natalie Achonwa leads all WNBA rookies in scoring and ranks fourth in rebounding with 9.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. She ranks fifth in the WNBA in field goal percentage (.533).
• The Fever bench has outscored its opponents in nine of their 10 wins this season and 14 of 18 games overall. Indiana currently ranks second in the WNBA in bench scoring with an average of 28.3 points per game.
• Layshia Clarendon remains out for Sunday’s game (concussion symptoms). She is day-to-day and hopes to play Tuesday at Chicago.

Probable Starters
Fever – F-Tamika Catchings, F-Marissa Coleman, C-Natalie Achonwa, G-Shenise Johnson, G-Briann January
Sun – F- Alyssa Thomas, F- Camille Little, C- Kelsey Bone, G-Alex Bentley, G-Jasmine Thomas

Last Meeting
(July 28, 2015) Tamika Catchings’ fadeaway jumper with 6.5 seconds left in overtime was the exclamation point to a 75-73 victory as the Indiana Fever withstood a second-half rally to defeat the Connecticut Sun. Off the bench, Shavonte Zellous paced Indiana with 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting. She twice beat the shot-clock buzzer in overtime to stake Indiana to a 71-67 lead. Kelsey Bone’s three-point play brought the Sun within 71-70 and Camille Little’s 3-pointer put the home team into the lead for just the second time of the game, with 1:52 remaining in OT. Catchings scored the game’s final two buckets, though. She finished 15 points and eight rebounds.

Last Games
Fever: (July 29, 2015) Shenise Johnson scored 19 points to lead a balanced offense and the Indiana Fever ended the New York Liberty’s five-game winning streak with a 84-72 victory Wednesday night. Briann January had all 12 of her points in the second half to go with a season-high eight assists for the Fever. Indiana started a 17-2 run late in the third quarter and led 74-59 at 6:13 of the fourth quarter when Maggie Lucas hit a 3-pointer. Epiphanny Prince, who had 17 points, scored six as the Liberty came right back with 10 straight but they only had three points in the last four minutes. Tina Charles led New York with 18 points.

Sun: (July 31, 2015) Shekinna Stricklen scored off a rebound with 8.2 seconds left to give Connecticut the lead and finished with 15 points in the Sun’s 67-66 victory over the Seattle Storm on Friday night. Seattle’s Sue Bird made a pullup jumper with 2:13 left to give Seattle a 66-60 lead. Alyssa Thomas answered with a layup and, after a Seattle turnover, Stricklen made a 3-pointer to make it 66-65. Seattle’s Crystal Langhorne missed an off-balance jumper with 22 seconds left and, after Connecticut took the lead, Abby Bishop missed a jumper at the buzzer. Kelsey Bone added 12 points, and Elizabeth Williams had 10. Bird scored 15 points, six in the fourth quarter, for Seattle.

Series
The Fever and Sun meet for the third time this season and the second time in less than a week. This will be the first time Indiana faces Connecticut at Bankers Life Fieldhouse this season. The Sun lead the overall series 34-25. In the first meeting this season, the Fever ended a seven-game road losing streak at Connecticut with their first regular season road win over the Sun since July 28, 2011. Indiana piled up a season-high 92 points on a season-best 54.4 percent shooting in the win at Mohegan Sun Arena on June 30, the beginning of a five-game winning streak.