Fever-Sun Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Jul 16 2011 1:58PM

The Indiana Fever's offense struggled to get in sync Friday as their seven-game winning streak came to an end.

They had no such trouble against the Connecticut Sun two days earlier.

The Eastern Conference-leading Fever try to bounce back from their first loss in nearly a month and beat the Sun for the third time in three weeks Sunday in Connecticut.

After averaging 81.3 points and shooting 49.0 percent during its winning streak, Indiana (10-4) was a bit flat Friday, shooting 39.3 percent in an 80-70 loss to Minnesota. Tamika Catchings had 22 points for the Fever, who missed 12 of 17 shots in the fourth quarter.

"Minnesota did a super job on us defensively,'' coach Lin Dunn said. "We did not match their intensity. They disrupted what we were trying to do.''

Indiana, which hadn't lost since a June 19 overtime defeat to Phoenix, shot 7 of 25 from 3-point range against the Lynx.

That stood in stark contrast from Wednesday's 90-78 win over the Sun, when the Fever made 11 of 17 3-point attempts - a franchise-record 64.7 percent. Katie Douglas, who averages a team-best 15.9 points, scored 20 to lead six Indiana players in double figures.

The Fever's offense wasn't as prolific in its first meeting with the Sun on June 25, shooting 40.0 percent from the field, but the team came up with enough defensive stops down the stretch to squash a Connecticut rally and hang on for a 75-70 win. Catchings finished with a team-high 13 points.

Renee Montgomery led the Sun with 19 points in that game, but had a season-low six while shooting 2 of 12 at Indiana on Wednesday. Her struggles against the Fever seemed to carry over to Friday's game against New York, but she stepped up down the stretch to lead Connecticut to a 68-59 win.

Montgomery scored 10 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter after missing eight of nine shots through the first three periods.

Connecticut's defense also came up big late, forcing the Liberty to miss 13 of their final 14 shots. The Sun, who had been outscored by 35 points while losing their previous two games, allowed their fewest points of the season.

"That's the best defense we've played for an entire game all year," coach Mike Thibault said.

With the victory, the Sun (7-5) moved into second place in the East, percentage points ahead of the Liberty and two games behind the Fever.

"Any win in the conference is always key because it's going to be close down the stretch,'' Montgomery said. "We don't want it to come down to the end where we're hoping somebody else loses. ... We want to put ourselves in a good position going down the stretch. This is only about halfway through the season, but still as much as you can do early in the season the better."

McCray's career-best 22 lifts Sun over Fever

Posted Jul 17 2011 9:05PM

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) Danielle McCray is beginning to show why she was such a high draft choice.

McCray scored a career-high 22 points in her second career start Sunday, leading the Connecticut Sun to a 76-71 win over the Indiana Fever.

````When we drafted her we felt she had a chance to be a really good player but when you come in as a rookie I think it's important to give them as much as they can take and let them find their way and then when you know matured, then you kind of let them have more,'' Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said.

The Sun took McCray as the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2010 draft. She missed last season with a knee injury she sustained during her senior year at Kansas.

``My teammates found be on the weak side and when I had the ball, I knocked it down. They were cheating inside because when we have a good post player like Tina Charles, the other team is going to double-team her,'' McCray said. ``So when they were doubling on Tina, Coach Thibault put me on the back side and I knocked the shots down.''

Tina Charles added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Sun (8-5) who are the lone team in the Eastern Conference undefeated at home (6-0).

Tamika Catchings led Indiana with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Indiana (10-5) trailed 72-65 with 39 seconds remaining before Jessica Davenport made two free throws. Catchings stole the ensuing inbounds pass and assisted on Katie Douglas' basket to cut it to 72-69 with 34 seconds left.

Connecticut guard Renee Montgomery made one of two free throws to push the Sun lead to four at 73-69. Catchings made a layup with 18 seconds left to make it 73-71 before Kalana Greene made one of two free throws to make it 74-71 with 18 seconds left.

The Fever had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer, but Catchings threw an errant pass to Douglas that went out of bounds with 7.7 seconds left.

Kara Lawson's two free throws sealed it with 6.9 seconds remaining.

Montgomery added 10 points for the Sun, including six in the fourth period.

Douglas had 12 points and Davenport 10 for Indiana, which has lost two straight.

``Yeah, it's a little bump, but we know that nothing is going to be gift wrapped and handed to us. We know that we are one of the most hunted teams in the WNBA and we are going to have to fight on the road even more,'' Douglas said. ``We would like to regroup and gather and go to Atlanta, a team we have not seen all season, we can make the adjustments we need to make and be ready to go on Tuesday.''

• Fever: --
• Sun: --

• Fever: --
• Sun: Charles

• Lead Changes: 8
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
• Officials: #45 Tom Mauer, #44 Felicia Grinter, #17 Scott Twardoski
• Attendance: 7075
• Duration: 1:58