Fever-Shock Preview

By BRETT HUSTON
Posted Aug 04 2011 12:11PM

The Indiana Fever have been streaky over the past six weeks, sandwiching three consecutive losses between winning streaks of seven and four games.

The Tulsa Shock only wish a three-game skid was the worst of their problems.

The Shock could have trouble avoiding a 13th loss in a row Friday night when they face the visiting Fever, who should feel confident in their chances for a fifth straight victory coming off a 35-point rout.

Indiana (14-6) moved atop the Eastern Conference after winning seven consecutive games June 21-July 13, then briefly fell behind Connecticut after losing three times in five days.

The Fever are alone in first again thanks to four straight victories, the latest of which was never in question. Indiana jumped out to a 12-point lead after one quarter against Los Angeles on Sunday and never looked back, leading by as many as 41 in a 98-63 demolition of the Sparks.

Jessica Davenport was the Fever's high scorer with 16 as Indiana's reserves scored a WNBA-record 57 points.

"Everybody had energy,'' said Davenport, who has scored in double figures in 11 straight games. "We're playing well as a unit right now. We have a balanced effort.''

Things just keep getting worse for the Shock (1-17), who are looking like a real threat to challenge the 1998 Washington Mystics' 3-27 record as the worst in league history.

Seven of the 12 losses during Tulsa's current skid have come by double digits, with four by 20 or more points. That disturbing gap is enough for even the team's management to acknowledge there's a long way to go.

"I look at ourselves as an expansion team,'' president Steve Swetoha said last week. "And it's going to take a little bit longer than we anticipated.''

Swetoha's comments came prior to Saturday's visit from Seattle, which had little trouble against the Shock. Tulsa did pull to within five late in the third quarter, but that was as close as it would get in an 89-72 loss.

The Shock have been outscored by 14.6 points per game.

"We've got to do things that will not harm ourselves. I think more often than not, we've beaten ourselves more than other teams have beat us,'' interim coach Teresa Edwards said.

"Nailing that in the heads of these young ladies is kind of tough. They hear me, but we're not implementing it yet.''

The Shock actually put up a pretty impressive fight at Conseco Fieldhouse on June 14 when Nolan Richardson was still on the sidelines, leading by one with 4:37 left. Davenport, though, scored nine of her 14 points in the next three minutes to rally the Fever to an 82-74 win.

All-Star Katie Douglas, who has averaged 7.3 points in her last four games, led Indiana with 22.

Fever cruise past Shock for fifth straight win

Posted Aug 06 2011 12:00AM

TULSA, Okla. (AP) The Indiana Fever got a balanced effort from their starters and reserves and cruised to an easy win against the struggling Tulsa Shock.

Jessica Davenport scored 17 points, Tamika Catchings had 15, and the Fever rolled to their fifth straight win, 85-65 victory Friday night, handing the Shock their franchise record-tying 13th straight loss.

Shavonte Zellous added 12 points against her former team, Katie Douglas had 11 and Erin Phillips 10 for the Eastern Conference-leading Fever (15-6), who got 45 points from their reserves.

``One of our keys is for the bench to come in and give the starters a break each and every game,'' said Zellous, who combined with Davenport to go 10 for 17 from the field. ``Every game (the bench) is getting better at sharing the ball and playing great defense. Jessica and I share the ball real good and when we kick it in she can either score or kick it back out.''

Zellous, traded to Indiana last season, said she was glad to return to Tulsa even if briefly.

``Tulsa is a great city, it just had to end the way it ended,'' she said. ``I'll always be a Shock in spirit. But I'm on a great team and I'm happy.''

Tiffany Jackson and Jennifer Lacy scored 12 points each as the Shock (1-18) tied the team mark set in 2002, when they were in Detroit. Jackson scored Tulsa's final four points to eclipse 1,000 for her career.

``I didn't have a clue until I heard it at the free throw line,'' Jackson said of the public address announcer telling fans of the milestone. ``It's an honor and a privilege and I'm really excited about it. I'll give it to my mom to put with my draft ball and all my Texas balls.''

The Fever led from the outset as Tulsa shot 4 for 18 in the first quarter while Indiana built a 22-12 lead.

``Tulsa is a scrappy team,'' Davenport said. ``We worked hard. We dug in and played great defense. Our bench is a cohesive unit. We play well together, we encourage each other. ... We have some things to work on from the inside but when we play at a high energy level defensively, it's hard for teams to keep up with us for 40 minutes.''

The Fever led by 15 in the first half extended the advantage to 30 in the second half.

Davenport said she is fine with coming off the bench after starting early in the season.

``I'm comfortable with both roles,'' she said. ``Whatever is best for the team, I'm comfortable with that.''

Kayla Pedersen, who finished with seven points and six rebounds for the Shock, said what the team is doing in practice is not translating in games.

``I don't know what that reason is,'' she said. ``We're all trying to find it. We've been saying that the whole year. Practices are nowhere close to games. We don't know the answer right now.

``We just couldn't get into a flow. At the end, we looked a lot better, started feeding each other the ball. They were switching (defenses) and we couldn't quite figure out what to do. That really stopped us.''

Tulsa finished with 20 turnovers in the game, including a combined 12 by point guards Ivory Latta and Andrea Riley. In contrast, they combined for just three assists.

• Fever: --
• Shock: --

• Fever: --
• Shock: Latta

• Lead Changes: 1
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: BOK Center, Tulsa, OK
• Officials: #28 Angelica Suffren, #21 Byron Jarrett, #55 Eric Brewton
• Attendance: 5013
• Duration: 1:48