Fever-Sun Preview

By BRETT HUSTON
Posted Jul 27 2011 6:32PM

The Indiana Fever can clinch their season series against the Connecticut Sun and move atop the Eastern Conference by themselves with a win Thursday night.

The Sun, however, have hardly been accommodating hosts.

First place in the East is on the line at Mohegan Sun Arena, where Connecticut looks to improve to 8-0 while recording its fifth straight victory overall.

Connecticut (10-5) fell 90-78 at Indiana on July 13, its second loss to the Fever at Conseco Fieldhouse, but coach Mike Thibault's team hasn't lost since.

The Sun are on a four-game winning streak that included a bit of revenge against Indiana (11-6), a 76-71 victory July 17 highlighted by a season-high 22 points from rookie reserve Danielle McCray.

McCray only had two points in Connecticut's first game after the All-Star break, but the Sun's All-Star starter made sure her team's winning streak would continue. Tina Charles had 21 points, 15 rebounds and played excellent defense on WNBA leading scorer Sylvia Fowles in a 77-66 victory at Chicago on Tuesday.

"I tried to get her out of her rhythm, trying to play hard defense,'' Charles said. "I think me and her, when we play against each other, we try to take it personal."

Indiana and Connecticut may be in the midst of developing a bit of a rivalry as the East's top two teams, and with a tight race, Thursday's meeting is critical. A Fever victory would give them the season series, but if the Sun win, a Sept. 2 meeting at Mohegan Sun will determine a potential tiebreaker.

Even winning one of those two seems like a monumental task for Indiana, however. Connecticut is the league's lone unbeaten team on its own court, winning those seven games by an average of 8.7 points.

This will be the Fever's first game since the break, but they went into their week-long hiatus on a positive note. After losing a season-high three straight from July 15-19, Indiana cruised past visiting Chicago 77-63 last Thursday behind 20 points from Jessica Davenport.

Davenport came off the bench for the second game in a row after starting her previous eight contests.

"My role hasn't changed,'' said Davenport, who's averaged 15.0 points in her last eight games after averaging just 10.7 in her first nine. "They still want me to be a presence down low, whatever game we play or whoever we play against.''

Davenport has only averaged 11.0 points in the three games against the Sun.

The reason Indiana has beaten Connecticut twice was its ability to contain Charles. The Sun's center had 18 points and 14 boards in Connecticut's victory July 17, but she was held to just 13.5 points per game in the two losses to the Fever.

Charles has scored at least 15 points in all 10 Sun victories.

Indiana was the last team to beat Connecticut at Mohegan Sun, a 79-66 win Aug. 15 behind 26 points from Tamika Catchings.

Fever 69, Sun 58

Posted Jul 28 2011 11:30PM

UNCASVILLE, CT. (AP) No Katie Douglas was no problem at all for the Indiana Fever on Thursday night.

Douglas, the Fever's All-Star guard, remained at home with a fever. But her teammates moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference with a 69-58 victory over the Connecticut Sun.

Tamika Catchings scored 16 points and the Fever (12-6) moved a game in front of Connecticut (10-6).

It was Connecticut's first loss at home this season after seven straight wins.

Shannon Bobbitt scored 13 points for the Fever, who held Connecticut to 31 percent shooting from the floor (22-72). Indiana survived 33 percent shooting (22-67) by outrebounding Connecticut 48-39.

"It's definitely going to be harder without Katie because we rely on her a lot, offensively and defensively," Catchings said. "I think anytime we have someone go down, someone else has to step up. I thought Shannon did a great job tonight."

Bobbitt and Catchings each made free throws in the final minute to seal the win for the Fever. Jeanette Pohlen, who started in place of Douglas, added 10 points. Jessica Davenport had 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.

"We have a lot of confidence in Jeanette Pohlen. We think we got a great draft pick. We think she is a great shooter and she's a lot like Katie," Indiana coach Lin Dunn said. "She's a shooting guard, defends, runs the floor and knocks down the 3. She has a lot of playing time in big games. We lost (Briann) January and today Katie, but you've got to play with what you've got. We have a lot of confidence in our bench."

Connecticut, which trailed by as many as 17, got as close as four in the fourth period.

Tina Charles led Connecticut with 13 points and Renee Montgomery added 10.

"It seems about twice every year we I don't think we can shoot any worse than what we do. We wasted a really good defensive effort. We had an opportunity. Indiana was missing their leading scorer. I thought we played terrific defense but we couldn't make a shot to save our life," Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said.

Catchings made a 3-point field goal with three minutes remaining in the second period to give the Fever their biggest lead of the first half at 34-17.

Connecticut, which shot 27 percent (9-for-34) in the first half, scored the last eight points of the first half to pull within 34-25 at halftime. The Sun missed all nine three-point attempts in the half and committed 10 turnovers.

• Fever: --
• Sun: --

• Fever: --
• Sun: Thibault

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
• Officials: #9 Denise Brooks, #24 Tony Dawkins, #27 Penny Davis
• Attendance: 6329
• Duration: 1:49