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Tamika Catchings (L) and Natalie Williams both returned to the All-Star Game in 2003.
(Ron Hoskins/WNBA/Getty Images)
2003: A Season in Review
Indiana Fever News Release Sept. 24, 2003
The Indiana Fever successfully completed its fourth season in the Women’s National Basketball Association in 2003, taking a playoff run to the final game of the regular season for the second straight year.
Unlike its first playoff season in 2002 however, the Fever fell to Connecticut in the season’s final game to miss a second straight playoff appearance. Indiana finished with a 16-18 record that was highlighted by numerous firsts and high points – among them the first sellout crowd in franchise history and the third-longest home-court win streak in WNBA history.
The Fever’s 2003 home opener was the first of eight straight home wins to begin the season, extending a modest five-game home streak from the close of 2002 to a franchise-record 13 games. Indiana defeated the Washington Mystics in a nationally televised game on ABC-TV, with 18,345 tickets sold for the game – the first sellout in Fever history.
As the Fever’s home streak continued, Indiana recorded its largest wins ever against the New York Liberty, 86-66, and later against eventual WNBA champion Detroit, 85-54. The win over the Shock on July 6 was the 12th straight home win of the streak and was followed by a second home win over the Liberty on July 10. The longest home-court win streak in franchise history, and the third-longest in league history, was ended on a last-second shot against Detroit on July 16.
Brown
Indiana’s first trip to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut was a memorable one. Sparked by 26 points from rookie Coretta Brown and withstanding a frenetic comeback by the home team, Indiana downed the Sun 94-90 in double overtime. Tamika Catchings had a monster game with 25 points and a career-high 16 rebounds as the Fever scored the most points in franchise history. Connecticut overcame a 12-point deficit at the half to send the game into overtime, and then into a second overtime session on last-second buzzer-beaters. Catchings scored seven points and Kristen Rasmussen added five as the Fever outscored the Sun 14-10 in the second OT.
Indiana’s series against the Shock pitted the two Eastern Conference contenders in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in Detroit on Aug. 2. In sole possession of second place at the time, it was the latest that Indiana had ever challenged for a WNBA conference title.
For the first time in franchise history, Indiana placed two players in the WNBA All-Star Game, with Tamika Catchings as a starter for the second straight season and Natalie Williams chosen as an Eastern Conference reserve. Catchings, the East’s leading vote-getter in fan balloting and the second-leading vote-getter overall, was the game’s leading scorer (17) while Williams ended as the game’s leading rebounder (11).
Schumacher
Indiana raced to its largest victory margin in history with an 81-54 win over the San Antonio Silver Stars on July 23. In Indiana’s first outing against the league’s newest team from the Western Conference, Kelly Schumacher scored a career-high 22 points while the Fever led by as many as 38 points and won by 34.
Catchings became the second-fastest in WNBA history to reach 1,000 points when she hits a running layup against the Minnesota Lynx at Conseco Fieldhouse, with 8:13 remaining in the first half on July 26. Catchings, who has averaged 19.2 points per game in her two active seasons, scored her 1,000th point in the 54th game of her career.
Another Indiana first came on July 24 and July 29 while beating the Washington Mystics twice in five days – both on the road. In a pair of battles pitting former Tennessee stars Tamika Catchings vs. Chamique Holdsclaw, both all-stars flourished in games that went to the wire. After winning 80-75 in the first matchup, the Mystics took Indiana to overtime and appeared to have Indiana on the ropes after Holdsclaw’s bucket gave Washington a 91-90 lead with only 2.5 seconds to play. However, Catchings took the ensuing inbounds pass and tossed a sweeping baseline shot off the glass for a dramatic win as time expired.
Natalie Williams tied a franchise record with 17 rebounds and became the second player in U.S. women’s professional basketball history to eclipse 4,000 points as the Fever beat the Charlotte Sting, 69-63. The win ended a six-game losing skid.
Facing elimination in a five-team race for the playoffs, Indiana did something it had never done before – beat the Liberty at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 22. Tamika Catchings matched a career scoring-high with 32 points. She made 11-of-20 shots with four 3-pointers, and added 14 rebounds and three steals to will the Fever to a 64-51 win. The victory came with a cost, however, as third-leading scorer Stephanie White was lost for the season to injury after scoring 11 points with five assists and three 3-pointers of her own.
One night after the win in New York, the Fever’s second-largest crowd of the season packed Conseco Fieldhouse on August 23 to see Indiana win its second straight do-or-die contest, 59-46 over Cleveland, before 13,093 fans. The win was Indiana’s franchise-record 11th home win of the season.
For the second consecutive year, Tamika Catchings was named to the All-WNBA First Team. Catchings was the runner-up for the league’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year balloting.
Catchings was also one of five WNBA players featured on a Multi-Grain Cheerios box distributed in August. Catchings became the first professional athlete ever to wear an Indiana uniform on a national brand cereal box.
Natalie Williams, completing her first season in Indiana, also brought some national attention to the Fever when she out-dueled a one-on-one competitor from ESPN’s reality TV series “Beg, Borrow & Deal.” Filmed in May on Williams’s third day in a Fever uniform, the segment aired in early August.
