Indiana’s Turnovers, Atlanta’s Energy Lead to Fever Defeat

INDIANAPOLIS – A growing unease settled over the Indiana Fever on Friday night after the team’s second consecutive loss at home.

“I’m really disappointed in this one,” Indiana Coach Stephanie White said after her club fell by a 90-84 count to the Atlanta Dream. “I felt like Atlanta outworked us. They played – and I mean this…as a compliment – with reckless abandon.

“They got every loose ball. They got every hustle play. They wanted it more than we did, and they deserved to win.”

Also, turnovers eroded any hopes the Fever had, especially in the fourth quarter when they committed seven, leading to 13 Dream points. Indiana totaled 19 turnovers in the game, from which Atlanta scored 24 points.

PHOTO GALLERY: Fever 84, Dream 90 »

The loss to Atlanta, on the heels of Wednesday’s defeat to Los Angeles, left the Fever at 17-11 and in a second-place tie with Chicago in the WNBA Eastern Conference. Indiana, the league’s hottest team when the week started, must travel for a Sunday game at Tulsa, which has won four in a row.

Forward Tamika Catchings, who led Indiana with 24 points and seven rebounds against Atlanta, said teams saw a Fever club that won 14 of 17 games at one point and began making adjustments.

“We have to keep getting better,” Catchings said.

“It’s disappointing because, as a team, we’re too good for this,” she added about the past two games. “We’re too good of a team and have too many weapons to get in a situation like this where we lose based on turnovers, or we lose based on missed box-outs, or we lose because we’re not doing our defensive principles.”

It didn’t help Friday night that the Fever lost point guard Briann January in the first half with a sore knee. Reserve Layshia Clarendon played well – a career-high 17 points on 8-of-16 shooting – but January’s experience might have aided the Fever in some difficult situations.

“I think her absence was key and not only offensively because of the turnovers,” White said. “She’s our defensive anchor. She sets the tone for us on the defensive end.”

Indiana turned in spurts of strong play but couldn’t maintain it. They burst to a 10-0 lead at the start and led by 12 later in the half. However, Atlanta (12-16) played like a “desperate” team, as White phrased it, and never let up.

When Catchings made a pair of free throws with 2:15 left in the game, the Fever trailed by one. But the Dream went on a 5-0 run that closed out the victory. On two different possessions during that stretch, Atlanta missed shots but got offensive rebounds to keep the ball from the home team.

“I’m not saying we didn’t play hard,” White emphasized. “I’m saying that (the Dream) wanted it more. You have to sacrifice everything at that point to put a body on somebody and box out. … To me, it was more of a lack of discipline than a lack of effort.”

Shenise Johnson joined Catchings and Clarendon in double figures for Indiana, tying her season high with 19 points.

“It’s irrelevant,” Johnson said about her personal statistics. “Wins and losses. Twelve (players) strong.”

Tiffany Hayes led Atlanta with 28 points, including a 14-of-15 mark from the free throw line.

Clarendon was hopeful that the Fever’s loss could become a teachable moment in the wake of their earlier winning streak.

“It’s easy when things are going great,” she said. “You’re getting stops. You get to play how you want to play in the open court. But when we have to kind of dig down in games like this…I think we’re really going to learn a lot from this and it’s going to help us in the long run.”

August 28, 2015: Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White and Fever players Tamika Catchings, Shenise Johnson and Layshia Clarendon discuss their 90-84 loss to the Atlanta Dream.

August 28, 2015 – Tamika Catchings, Layshia Clarendon and Shenise Johnson give their take on Friday’s 90-84 loss to the Atlanta Dream.

August 28, 2015 – Fever guard Maggie Lucas sinks a 3-pointer as the buzzer expires at the end of the third quarter against Atlanta.

August 28, 2015 – Atlanta Dream head coach Michael Cooper and players Matee Ajavon, Tiffany Hayes, and Sydney Carter give their reaction following a 90-84 victory over the Fever on Friday night.