Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White has waited a while for her first win as a head coach. She was groomed to take over for Lin Dunn and was a quick learner. Her passion, investment, and research into the game is special. Friday night, four games in, White earned win No. 1 — with many more surely to follow.
“It’s a little bit of a relief just to get that one out of the way,” White said afterwards. “It makes it more special the way we did it.”
White has so many wins as a player and assistant coach over the years, but she’ll remember this one, her first win as the maestro. It is all the more satisfying, too, because they handled their business late in the contest and hung on for a 77-74 win over the Phoenix Mercury (1-2), the reigning WNBA Champions.
See Also: Stephanie White to share insight in pre-game video, halftime tweet.
The Fever (1-3) did it by keeping the Mercury to 34.8 percent shooting (and just 26 percent over the final 12 minutes). They did it by overcoming what White called “mental lulls.” They did it by having rookie Natalie Achonwa doing what coach has been trying to hammer home — running the floor. And, they did it by outscoring the Mercury in the paint, 40-16, not counting the double-digit layups missed.
“Having that grit, having that sense of urgency, having what we’ve had in the past,” said Catchings, “just that passion and the way that we normally play, we just haven’t had that consistently over the last three games.”
Dry spells and unforced turnovers weren’t absent tonight, but the Fever didn’t let it sidetrack them.
The Fever led most of the game but things got particularly interesting in the second half. After managing just 10 points in the third frame, the Fever scored the first seven points of the fourth, including a “No! No! No! YES!!” 3-pointer from Maggie Lucas. Their lead, however, wouldn’t last long as the Mercury answered with an 11-2 run.
Later, tied at 69 with 1:29 remaining, Catchings gave the Fever the lead for good on a layup. Not 20 seconds later, she grabbed a long rebound and zipped the ball 70-feet up the floor to Achonwa for an uncontested basket and a two-possession lead.
Pacers’ C.J. Miles (bottom left, in red) was courtside to watch Catchings and the Fever.
Catchings was spectacular all game, finishing with 27 points and 13 rebounds for her first double-double of the young season. Beyond the box score is what impressed her coach the most.
“Was she 25 again?” White joked. “She looked like she was young. … She dominated in every aspect of the ball game.
“She had control of our team. She had control of the ball. She controlled the moment. … I thought her game management was really terrific.”
Catchings, who was an efficient 9-of-17 from the floor and 8-of-10 at the line, missed the preseason as well as the first two games of the season due to a right knee injury. In hindsight, maybe that rest wasn’t such a bad thing.
“I do feel good,” she told me. “I feel really good. I don’t know if it was being injured the last month and a half and not really being able to go. Literally I’ve been working out since October so that probably was a good rest for my body.”
One play that truly illustrated who she is came on the south bucket at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as Phoenix was shooting free throws. The second one was off the mark. Catchings, oh so savvy, jabbed one way and then went in front of two opponents on the baseline. The ball got tipped towards the far sideline, in front of the Mercury’s bench, and Catchings was also darting that way. She earned that offensive rebound and another possession.
Phoenix’s Leilani Mitchell, who Indiana is high on, had a game to remember. She recorded a career-high 25 points — 14 scored in the second period — and shot a career-best 7-of-10 from outside. Those seven made threes were the most by a Fever opponent in franchise history.
That, after going 0-for-7 the previous night in New York. Basketball is funny sometimes. (Afterwards, she had a ball girl take picture of her and a tall blonde friend on the court, possibly to savor the outing.)
Zellous made her season debut Friday night.
It was Mitchell, too, that had a chance to force overtime. Her try from 28 feet out on the left side, however, was off the mark.
“Leilani Mitchell kicked out butt,” White admitted while sporting a grin, “but besides that … I’m really proud of our effort.”
This is a win the Fever can build on heading into Sunday’s clash with the Chicago Sky. Shavonte Zellous came home early from Croatia after things fell through for her to play on their National Team. After her extensive travel, she impressed with seven points and three rebounds in 26 minutes of work.
“I think the great thing that we have is everyone is buying into the system,” Catchings said regarding what she’s observed through four games.
“Yes, we have some of the same players but the way Steph wants to play is different than we played in the past. Really, it’s breaking the mental aspect of, ‘I want you to go, I want you to go. I don’t want you to set up the offense; I want you to go.'”
It’s about coming together and making positive strides early in the season.
“Saw a little bit of that old Fever grit tonight,” Fever President and GM Kelly Krauskopf tweeted postgame.
A little bit of that old grit with a new flare.
Thx everyone for the congratulatory tweets! Credit goes to our players, no other group we'd rather go to war with. #Together
— stephanie white (@swhitej2) June 13, 2015
Of Note:
- Fever assistant coach Gail Goestenkors was not on the bench tonight. She’s going into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame so she was in Knoxville and will formally be inducted on Saturday.
- The Fever want to run as often as they can and they did so fairly effectively tonight, outscoring the Mercury 20-4 in fast-break points.
- The win snapped a four-game losing streak to the Mercury, who were without Brittney Griner (suspension) and Diana Taurasi (being paid by her team overseas to rest).
- Pacers forward C.J. Miles, who was in attendance, tweeted “Catch out here killing…”
- Phoenix’s Tess Madgen left the game late with what appeared to be a left knee injury.