Strong Second Half Propels Fever Past Silver Stars

STAR OF THE GAME Tamika Whitmore Whitmore finished as the Fever's only double-digit scorer, shooting 6-of-10 from the floor for 12 points including a game-sealing baseline jumper in the game's final minute. UNSUNG HERO Sheri Sam Sam played one of her better games of the year and came up with big rebounds down the stretch. She finished with eight points on 4-of-9 shooting, and collected a team-high seven rebounds.. QUOTABLE Tammy Sutton-Brown On the win: "We just fought. [San Antonio] is a very good team and it’s always tough to win on the road. We’ve a good team. We know we are good enough to win big games. Tonight, we just fought and when we took a lead at the end, we just kept fighting. We were a little slow offensively in the first half. I thought we played pretty good defense throughout, but we made some adjustments that made a difference in the second half." Brian Winters In General: "San Antonio is much like us – good defensively and they execute well in the half court. We needed to get a win. The first half was a battle of defenses, and the score showed it. I thought we made some good adjustments at halftime, and I thought our players moved the ball well in the second half. We got some key plays, and our defense was solid for 40 minutes." HIDDEN NUMBERS Points in the paint: Fever 34, Silver Stars 24 Second-chance points: Fever 10, Silver Stars 6 Fast-break points: Fever 6, Silver Stars 17 Points off turnovers: Fever 21, Silver Stars 14 Starters scoring: Fever 35, Silver Stars 42 Bench scoring: Fever 24, Silver Stars 13

GAME REPORT
	Fever 59, Silver Stars 55
August 17, 2007 at AT&T Center (San Antonio, TX) Box Score | WNBA Recap

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Tamika Whitmore made two big baskets late to help the Indiana Fever hang on wrap up the second spot in the playoffs with a 59-55 win over San Antonio on Friday night.

Indiana (20-13) outscored San Antonio 14-0 over a stretch of 3 minutes, 22 seconds late in the fourth quarter, then held off a comeback bid.

Whitmore was the only Indiana player in double figures with 12 points, and Tully Bevilaqua made her only two 3-pointers less than a minute apart during the run.

The Fever secured the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs because third-place Connecticut (18-15) lost Friday to New York.

Sophia Young scored 12 for San Antonio (20-13). Vickie Johnson had 11 and Becky Hammon added 10.

The teams combined to shoot 38 percent from the field. It was a season low in points for the Silver Stars, and Indiana's 20 points at halftime was a season low.

San Antonio can finish no better than second behind Phoenix in the West. The Silver Stars had a half-game lead over Sacramento before the Monarchs played late Friday against Phoenix.

With 7:24 remaining, San Antonio led 44-41, but Bevilaqua's 3-pointers and four more points from Sheri Sam helped Indiana make it 55-44 with 4:02 to play. Bevilaqua finished with eight points.

San Antonio cut it to 55-53 with 1:04 remaining when rookie Camille Little hit a basket and made a free throw.

Whitmore answered with a jumper for a four-point lead before Helen Darling cut it back to two on a driving layup with 28 seconds to go. Whitmore then drive past Little with seven seconds left.

The Silver Stars led by nine points in the first half despite a season-low 26 points. Though the Silver Stars struggled through a 5-of-16 second quarter, the Fever were 3-of-16.

The 18 points combined in the second quarter is one short of the league record for fewest combined points in a quarter. The record was set by the same two teams on May 23 last year..