Game-changing third quarter spells defeat for Indiana

NEW YORK – Tina Charles scored 21 points and Essence Carson added 14 to lead the New York Liberty to an 84-74 win over the Indiana Fever. The Liberty (2-1) earned its second straight home win at Madison Square Garden while Indiana fell to 0-3.

Despite a rebounding edge and outscoring the Liberty in three of four quarters, Indiana’s 16 turnovers contributed to 24 Liberty points and New York shot 49 percent from the floor to send the Fever to its third straight defeat, matching an identical start in 2014.

PHOTO GALLERY: Fever 79, Liberty 86 »

“It all comes down to our turnovers,” said first-year head coach Stephanie White who received her first technical foul with 1:26 left in the game. “You can’t give away free possessions. [New York] took advantage and made it tough on us to come back.”

 “We had a rough third quarter again,” she added. “We came out flat, without any sense of urgency on either end of the court. We had four straight turnovers on offense, and that got us out of sorts on the defensive end.”

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The Fever led most of the first half and clung to a 41-38 lead at intermission, but New York doubled the Fever in the third quarter, 24-12, beginning with a game-changing 20-4 run out of the locker room.

Indiana closed the gap to 8 on a 3-pointer by Shenise Johnson with 28 seconds left in the third, but the Liberty pushed their lead to 14, 68-54, on a hook shot and three-point play by Charles with 8:33 in the final quarter. Maggie Lucas’ 3-pointer with 5:25 remaining narrowed the gap to 6, 71-65, but six straight Liberty points pushed New York ahead by double figures again.

Tanisha Wright added 12 points for New York, and Kiah Stokes pitched in 11.

Indiana’s 41 points at the half were a season-high in one half for the Fever, but the 13 points in the third were a season-low for a quarter.

The loss overshadowed a career scoring high of 14 points by Layshia Clarendon and the 2015 debut of three-time Olympic gold medalist and nine-time WNBA All-Star Tamika Catchings. Catchings, the WNBA’s active leader in points, rebounds, steals and free throws, scored seven points in the first quarter and finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Johnson, Lynetta Kizer and rookie Natalie Achonwa also added 13 points apiece for the Fever who played without veteran center Erlana Larkins (right knee).

The Fever returns to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for a pair of home games this weekend, battling Phoenix on Friday (7:00 p.m., FOX Sports Indiana and 107.5/1070 The Fan) and Chicago on Sunday (1:00 p.m., ESPN2 and 107.5/1070 The Fan).