INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever sit sixth in league standings after defeating the Seattle Storm 95-75 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Tuesday.
Indiana (20-18) would have been outside the playoff picture with a loss and a Los Angeles Sparks victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday. Odyssey Sims finished with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field in 28 minutes. Aliyah Boston was dominant in the paint, showing off her elite footwork in a 27-point performance. Kelsey Mitchell added 21 points and broke the Fever’s single-season scoring record.
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With only seven games remaining, Fever coach Stephanie White knew her team had to secure a bounce-back win after losing its past two contests to the league-leading Minnesota Lynx.
”Every game at this point in the season is huge, and this was a big one for us,” White said. “We knew that we had to come out and have a sense of urgency. I felt like this was as close to 40 minutes as we put together consistently in a long time. I’m proud of this group for continuing to rise to the occasion.“
White added the Fever didn’t have “lulls and let downs” and praised Indiana for not allowing Seattle to go on “big runs.”
“I felt like the ball was moving offensively. It started really with our defense,” White said. “Though our attention to detail was better, it was better in the second half than it even was in the first half.
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“Our ability to finish plays and not give them multiple opportunities was really good, and that allowed us to get out in transition. When we get out in transition and get some easy buckets, it gives us confidence, and I thought we were able to do that early.”
White said the Fever wanted to earn more free throw attempts than Seattle. Indiana shot 80% from the charity stripe on 20 attempts, five more than the Storm.
Boston captured her 1,000th career rebound Tuesday and finished with nine on the night. Twelve of the Fever’s 42 rebounds came on the offensive glass. Seattle finished with 21 boards. Boston echoed White and said she believes the team’s connectivity on the offensive end started with strong defense.
White said Boston “set the tone for us on both ends” and applauded the three-time WNBA All-Star for being aggressive with the ball on drives to the rim, attacking defenders and “playing low to high instead of high to low.”
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“When she plays like that, there’s nobody that can stop her,” White said.
Caitlin Clark missed her 15th straight game Tuesday with a right groin injury. Guards Sydney Colson (foot) and Aari McDonald (ACL) suffered season-ending injuries in an Aug. 7 loss at Phoenix. Sophie Cunningham had surgery Friday to fix torn MCL that will sideline her for the rest of the season.
White believes the loss of multiple guards has impacted Boston the most.
“AB has been the one who’s been most affected by all of our injuries. All of the point guards know how to get her the ball and how they get it to her. And it’s not just getting her the ball, it’s where you get it to her, getting it to her on time, on target, thinking one pass ahead — all that matters,” White said.
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Boston and the Fever begin a three-game road trip against the Sparks on Friday. The Sparks are ninth in league standings but only 1.5 games behind the sixth-place Fever.
”Going into this game, we talked about that this was going to be a big game for us, considering the standings where Seattle was, but going into the West Coast trip, we’re just going to focus on LA,” Boston said Tuesday. “That’s been our motto this entire season: Focus on the game ahead of you, be where your feet are.
“And so starting tomorrow, we’re going to be looking at LA. These next string of games are definitely important for us, but we’ve got to take one game at a time.”
Follow Josh Heron on Twitter at @HeronReports. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever defeats Storm as WNBA standings, playoff seeding tightens
