Fever Fall To Sky, 65-68

STAR OF THE GAME Tamika Whitmore Whitmore stepped-up for the Fever adding 26 points, two rebounds and two assists in the loss to Chicago. UNSUNG HERO Tully Bevilaqua Fever's Tully Bevilaqua contributed across the board against the sky supplying five rebounds, five assists, three steals and three points. QUOTABLE Tamika Whitmore On Catchings' Absence: "When your star player is out, that means all the rest of us have to step up our games. I took the shots that came to me. I thought I had that last one, I thought it was going down. What can I say?" Brian Winters On The Loss In Chicago: "I thought that we played well today, actually. I just thought we were a little sluggish a few times, and I thought [Chicago] hit some pretty good shots. Perkins had a big shot go down for them, but if Sheri [Sam] or Whitmore get those same shots to fall for us, well, then, we win. That's the way the game goes sometimes." HIDDEN NUMBERS Points in the paint: Fever 26, Sky 38 Second-chance points: Fever 7, Sky 16 Fast-break points: Fever 4, Sky 5 Points off turnovers: Fever 8, Sky 15 Starters scoring: Fever 47, Sky 46 Bench scoring: Fever 18, Sky 22

GAME REPORT
	Fever 65, Sky 68
July 21, 2007 UIC Pavilion (Chicago, IL) Box Score | WNBA Recap

CHICAGO, July 21 (AP) -- Jia Perkins scored 15 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Chicago Sky to a 68-65 victory over the Indiana Fever on Saturday night, snapping a five-game losing streak.

Dominique Canty added 12 points for Chicago (9-13), which pulled into a tie with Washington for fifth place in the Eastern Conference - 1 1/2 games behind New York. Candice Dupree, Chasity Melvin and Armintie Price each had 11 points.

Tamika Whitmore scored a season-high 26 points for the Fever (16-6), who lost their second straight after a six-game winning streak and fell one game behind first-place Detroit in the East.

Indiana was playing without All-Star forward Tamika Catchings, who suffered a partial tear of her left plantar fascia in Friday's 89-80 loss to Detroit. Catchings, who leads the Fever in points (16.8), rebounds (9.1), assists (4.6) and a league-high 3.15 steals, is expected to be out two to three weeks.

Perkins' putback to tied the score at 63 with 1:22 remaining. After Whitmore answered with a putback of her own, Perkins' three with 42.4 seconds left gave Chicago a 66-65 lead.

Perkins missed a pair of free throws with 24.8 seconds to go, but got her own rebound and was fouled again a second later, this time making one to give the Sky a 67-65 lead.

Whitmore missed an uncontested 3-pointer with 9.4 seconds remaining.

The Fever took their biggest lead of the game at 54-45 on Tammy Sutton-Brown's putback with 52 seconds left in the third quarter.

Perkins hit three consecutive baskets capped by a three-pointer to give Chicago a 57-54 lead with 6:00 left in the game. Jumpers from Perkins and Dupree gave the Sky a 61-59 lead with 2:41 left.

Indiana answered with jumpers from Sutton-Brown and Sheri Sam to take a two point lead with 1:42 remaining to go.

K.B. Sharp hit a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining in the first half to give Indiana 36-32 lead at the break.

The Fever shot 53.8 percent (14-of-26) in the first half, and Whitmore scored 16 points and hit all seven of her shots before halftime.

2007 Game Report Archive