Fever Beats Lynx 78-75
June 26, 2011

Katie Douglas and Tamika Catchings led a fourth-quarter comeback that gave Indiana a 78-75 win over the Minnesota Lynx before a crowd of 7,117 at Target Center.

“This one hurts a little bit,” said Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve. While acknowledging her team’s rebounding dominance in the game (39-26 overall and 17-4 on the offensive boards), Reeve said she wasn’t happy with the defensive play, adding that it wasn’t a matter of effort but execution.

The first half featured a series of runs by each team. The Fever took a 15-8 lead with 7 straight points and expanded it to 29-18 when Minnesota called a time out early in the second quarter. The Lynx came back with 10 straight points and put together a 17-2 run.

Minnesota took the lead when Rebekkah Brunson, the league’s leading rebounder, came down with a missed Indiana shot and fired an outlet pass that Maya Moore saved from being intercepted. In one motion Moore fired a pass through the lane to Seimone Augustus, who laid it in to put the Lynx in front 33-31.

The Lynx held a 41-40 lead at halftime, and the teams exchanged a flurry of baskets to start the second half. Minnesota opened up its rebounding edge in the third quarter with Brunson, who led both teams with 11 in the game, getting help from Taj McWilliams-Franklin and, off the bench, Jessica Adair.

In the fourth quarter Douglas and Catchings hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game 67-67. Douglas had a strong fourth quarter, scoring 8 of her game-high 22 points and getting 4 of her 8 rebounds in the game.

Douglas rebounded a missed Augustus shot, leading to a lay up by Catchings for a 69-67 Fever lead. However, Brunson had a pair of putbacks after offensive rebounds to put the Lynx ahead 71-69. After Catchings tied the game with a lay up, Brunson hit an off-balance shot from the left side to make it 73-71 for the Lynx.

Douglas took over at this point for Indiana, scoring baskets on consecutive possessions (rebounding a Lynx miss in between) to give Indiana a 75-73 lead into the final minute. Douglas then stole a pass from Maya Moore. With 25 seconds left, Catchings missed a 19 footer, but Douglas came away with the rebound, forcing Minnesota to foul.

Douglas went to the line with 18.2 seconds left and a chance to make it a two-possession game. However, she missed her first shot, made her second, and the Lynx still had a chance to tie the game.

Augustus got the ball in the left corner and fired a shot from an awkward position. Douglas was called for a foul on the play, sending Augustus to the line for 3 shots with 8 seconds left. After the game, Reeve was asked if she felt like it was “money in the bank” with Augustus at the line in this situation. “Not tonight,” Reeve replied.

Augustus missed her first shot and made the second, leaving the Lynx trailing 76-74. The Lynx called time out and discussed having Augustus intentionally miss her final shot. Reeve said she hoped Brunson could muscle in for the rebound and a game-tying basket. However, Augustus’s hard shot banked in, leaving the Lynx trailing by a point as Indiana inbounded. Jeanette Pohlen was fouled and sank both her free throws with 5.6 seconds left to put Indiana up by 3 points. Lindsay Whalen tried a long shot as time ran out that was wide to the left, and the Fever had hung on for the win.

The loss was the second straight for the Lynx, who had won six of their first seven. Reeve said the team hadn’t practiced well in the days preceding the game. Her aim for the Lynx to get back on track: “We wanna get our swag back.”