INDIANAPOLIS — The Fever never looked back after starting the second half on a 16-3 run, as they dominated in their first win of the season, a 96-64 victory over the Atlanta Dream.
That run was the catalyst for a 36-point third quarter that blew the game open for Indiana. The Fever also held Atlanta to just 16 points in the third, completing a dramatic 20-point swing.
“We needed this,” says Erica Wheeler. “There were a couple of games that we played, we felt like we were there and we didn’t get over the hump. Today we got over the hump.”
In total, Indiana scored 61 points in the second half, which is a new franchise record for points scored in a second half. The 35-point second-half advantage (61-26) tied the second-largest second-half margin in league history.
“The difference today was that we married the defense with really, really good offense from different players, at different times, in different aspects of the game,” said Fever head coach Pokey Chatman.
Victoria Vivians led the Fever with a season high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc. Fellow rookie Kelsey Mitchell had 19 points, which included three 3-point baskets. She also had five assists.
The eight combined 3-pointers from Mitchell and Vivians is only the second time since 2009 that a WNBA rookie duo has combined for eight or more 3’s in a game, with the record being nine.
Atlanta was led by forward Angel McCoughtry who had 19 points and eight rebounds. Guard Renee Montgomery was the only other member of the Dream to score in double digits with 12.
The Dream jumped on the Fever early, taking a 7-0 lead in the game’s opening minutes. Indiana responded after a timeout, as Stephanie Mavunga corralled an offensive rebound for the second chance bucket that brought the lead within reach for Indiana, 9-6.
Elizabeth Williams, McCoughtry, and Tiffany Hayes carried the early offensive load for Atlanta, as the trio responded with their own 7-2 run to take a 15-8 advantage. Kelsey Mitchell hit a 3-pointer, Victoria Vivians sunk a turnaround jumper, and Wheeler hit a pull-up jumper to knot the game at 15-15. The teams traded baskets in the final seconds and the opening quarter ended tied at 17.
While the first quarter saw an exchange of runs, the second quarter featured back and forth scoring action as neither team took an advantage of greater than five. Atlanta took a 38-35 lead into halftime.
Indiana’s rookies took over in their season-best third quarter, as Vivians led the team with 11 points in the quarter on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 from behind the arc. Kelsey Mitchell added 10 of her own in the quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Taking a 17-point led into the fourth, the Fever continued to pile it on and extend their lead to as many as 34, the club’s largest since 2010.
“We were always baffled with, we do A and B and it’s successful, let’s do it again,” says Chatman. “So, it was nice to see them go back to the same action… that play worked so let’s do it again until they stop it.”
The 32-point margin of victory was the largest victory for Indiana since 2015 in a game against Connecticut.
Highlights
Postgame