Fever-Sun Preview

By JUSTIN EINHORN
Posted Sep 19 2012 3:43PM

A game which a few days ago appeared it might be very meaningful has become little more than a playoff tuneup for the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

That's because the Connecticut Sun recently clinched the No. 1 seed and now host an Indiana Fever team looking to avoid matching a season high with a third consecutive defeat Wednesday night.

It seemed this matchup could play a major role in deciding the East's regular-season champion after Indiana won eight of nine to pull within 1 1/2 games of Connecticut going into the weekend with a game in hand. The Fever can forge a four-game split of the season series - the first tiebreaker - with a win Wednesday.

Both teams lost Friday, but the Sun (23-9) bounced back with a 60-58 victory at Seattle on Sunday. The next night, Minnesota - the only team with a better record than Connecticut - would complete a home-and-home sweep of the Fever (20-11) with an 86-79 win.

That result wrapped up the East's No. 1 seed for the Sun. They have a 2 1/2-game lead with two games remaining while Indiana has three left, but Connecticut already has clinched the tiebreaker even if this season series ends up tied.

"It was too bad we couldn't do some things down the stretch," Fever coach Lin Dunn said. "We need to stay healthy."

While Indiana will begin the playoffs against No. 3 seed Atlanta, Connecticut will open against a sub-.500 team but can't be happy with how it's playing.

The Sun are 4-3 this month. They committed 19 turnovers in a 93-82 road loss to Los Angeles on Friday, then were held to their lowest point total of the season Sunday while shooting 33.3 percent from the field.

"It was really frustrating, especially when you're a No. 1 team and you're going into the playoffs," star center Tina Charles said after finishing with 12 points and three rebounds Sunday, well off her team-leading averages (18.1, 10.5).

"You don't want to have these lapses going into the playoffs. Everything needs to be smooth sailing."

Things haven't been going smoothly for the Fever, either, but at least the losses in their last two games came to the league-best Lynx. Indiana dropped a season-high three straight June 3-15.

That skid included an 89-81 home loss to Connecticut despite Tamika Catchings' 31 points. The teams split a home-and-home set later that month.

Kara Lawson averaged 20.0 points in the Sun's two wins over the Fever but had 10 on 3-of-11 shooting in a loss at Indiana.

Catchings has shot 35.4 percent from the field over her last three games.

The Fever announced Wednesday they will play without starting guards Briann January an Shavonte Zellous in their next two games after both sustained head injuries Monday.

Lawson leads Sun in 73-67 win over Fever

Posted Sep 19 2012 10:20PM

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) Although the Connecticut Sun had already secured the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, they were still disappointed with their latest win.

Kara Lawson scored nine of her 23 points in the final 4 minutes to lead the Sun to a 73-67 win over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night. Tina Charles had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Allison Hightower added 10 points for Connecticut (24-9).

Katie Douglas scored 16 of her 19 points in the first half for the Fever (20-12). Tamika Catchings added 15 points and five rebounds.

The Sun led 44-27 with more than eight minutes left in the third quarter.

However, Indiana - which didn't play Catchings or Douglas in the fourth quarter - got as close as 70-65 with less than 2 minutes left in the game.

``I think we're just a little disappointed,'' Lawson said. ``They got it down to a two possession game in the fourth, and we talked about at the start of the fourth about not letting up and putting the game away.

``We won. That's probably about all you can say good about the game.''

The Fever announced before the game that they'll play without starting guards Briann January and Shavonte Zellous the rest of the regular season. Both sustained head injuries in Monday's loss at Minnesota and returned to Indianapolis.

``One of the things we wanted to do was compete,'' Indiana coach Lin Dunn said. ``We're not going to come in here and lay down and die, and we're going to give our backups some quality minutes.''

Asjha Jones returned to Connecticut's lineup after missing the last 14 games due to a strained Achillies tendon. She played six minutes off the bench and made both of her shots for four points.

``I just wanted to play,'' Jones said. ``No matter how many minutes I was going to play, I wanted to be somewhat of a factor. Just be part of the game and make sure I had positive minutes.''

Hightower started the second half with a driving layup, followed by a putback by Charles. Hightower followed with a jumper as the Sun pulled ahead 44-27 - their largest lead of the game - less than two minutes into the third period..

Indiana pulled to 64-58 with more than 4 minutes left in the game. Lawson was fouled moments later while attempting a 3-pointer. She made all her free throws.

Karima Christmas had a 3-pointer on the other end for Indiana. Lawson answered with a 3 to push Connecticut's lead to 70-61 with less than 3 minutes left in the game.

``I thought (the reserves) did really well,'' Catchings said. ``(Goodlett) did a good job our little rookie. She's been battling all year.''

Back-to-back putbacks by rookie Sasha Goodlett cut the Sun's lead to 70-65 with 1:40 left, but Lawson made another 3 with 34.1 seconds to go to seal Connecticut's win.

``We're trying to win a game to have the second-best record in the league (behind the Minnesota Lynx),'' Sun coach Mike Thibault said. ``I was just disappointed that I had to put those two (starters Charles and Hightower) back in (with over five minutes left in the game). I didn't want to.''

Douglas recorded a few milestones during the game. She made four 3s to break Indiana's franchise single-season record. She has 80 this season and joined Katie Smith and Diana Taurasi as the only players in WNBA history to make that many 3s in one season. Douglas also had an assist to become the 15th player in league history to record 1,000 for her career.

Connecticut unveiled its All-Decade team prior to the game as part of its season-long celebration of its 10th anniversary. Current players Renee Montgomery, Tan White, Charles, Jones and Lawson were among the 10. Former Sun players Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Nykesha Sales, Lindsay Whalen, the late Margo Dydek and Douglas rounded out the list.

``It means an awful lot,'' Douglas said. ``I was here for five years and put in a tremendous amount of work and we had a lot of success. I know we fell short (in the WNBA Finals) two times and for the fans of Connecticut to recognize me and be part of such a quality group of ladies on that team it means a lot and I am honored and humbled.''

• Fever: --
• Sun: --

• Fever: --
• Sun: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
• Officials: #55 Eric Brewton, #53 Jeff Smith, #31 Amy Bonner
• Attendance: 5811
• Duration: 1:41