A sold-out State Farm Arena almost witnessed a big fourth-quarter comeback in Monday’s WNBA matchup between the Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever.
The Fever jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led by as many as 18 but Atlanta put together a ferocious fourth quarter and cut the Fever’s lead to two points.
Indiana held on to earn an 84-79 win to remain perfect (3-0) against the Dream this season. WNBA rookie star Caitlin Clark scored 19 for the Fever.
Atlanta never led. Down 82-79 with less than a minute left in regulation, Atlanta had multiple chances to tie the game with a 3-pointer. Nia Coffey’s 3-point attempt missed, Maya Caldwell pulled in the rebound and kicked the ball out to Tina Charles, whose 3-pointer with 13.5 seconds was also off. Caldwell got the rebound but Coffey committed a turnover which was the dagger for Atlanta.
“I thought our team had great fight and resiliency again,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said. “It’s just one game. We’re (going to) refocus and get back to the drawing board. I’ve seen some areas where we can get better. What I really liked though is we’re doing a great job of forming an identity with this team.”
The Dream (10-19) looked like a different team in the second half. Atlanta went to the locker room trailing 52-38 and the Fever (14-16) out-rebounded the Dream 25-14 over the first two quarters. Atlanta gave up 22 points in the first quarter and 30 points in the second quarter.
“We sort of put ourselves in a hole in the first half,” Charles said. “Tanisha told us that they scored 30 points in the second quarter. That was really big for us. We hold our hat on being a really good defensive team and we definitely needed to show that on that end. At the end of the day, I don’t care about the score, I just care about the character we showed throughout the game and I thought we showed great character.”
Charles scored a team-high 28 points and she pulled in eight rebounds. Charles kept her team in the game in the first half as she was 6 of 10 with 12 points. The rest of the team was 6 of 24.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be in this league for about 14 years,” she said. “I’ve had so many of these type of nights. It’s just been really great because my [former] point guard is now my coach. Tanisha knows me well and knows when I am in a good groove.”
In the second half, the Dream outscored the Fever 41-32 and out-rebounded them 24-18. The Dream shot 50% in the second half compared to a 35.3 in the first half.
“(The message was) continue to fight and continue to string together multiple stops in a row,” Wright said. “In the second half we did a great job of stringing together multiple stops, multiple times. That really helped us too. Our rebounding in the second half was so much better and it allowed us to get out and get some opportunities in transition.”
The Fever dominated in the paint in the first half with a 28-10 scoring advantage. Atlanta found its stroke inside in the second half and outscored Indiana 18-6.
“I thought we just had to make it a little bit tougher in terms of their post touches,” Wright said. “I think we did that [in the second half]. We fought a little harder to get around. We brought some support on the back side.”
Atlanta’s bench was a big part of the attempted comeback after Allisha Gray exited the game in the third quarter with a back injury and did not return. Nia Coffey had nine rebounds off the bench while Caldwell tallied six.
“I thought we got great minutes from our bench that came in and really sparked that fight and that run,” Wright said. “Everybody else fed off that energy.”
Indiana’s big three of Aliyah Boston (14), Kelsey Mitchell (29) and Clark (19) combined for 62 of the Fever’s 84 points and the trio combined for 25 of the team’s 43 rebounds. Boston led her team with 11 boards for a double-double.
“For us it’s about playing up-tempo and I like to play that way,” Mitchell said. “I have teammates that want to play that way. Obviously it’s about being confident and playing alongside my teammates and letting that chemistry flow.”
Indiana went on a four-minute scoring drought in the fourth quarter which allowed the Dream to get within two, 76-74. But Atlanta could not get over the hump after the Fever found the bucket and went on a 5-0 run.
“I think [it was about] staying calm,” Clark said about not giving up the lead late. “It was a huge swing there when Lexie [Hull] kind of bobbled the pass and got an and-one. She missed the free throw and we came up with it and [Mitchell] scored. I think that definitely gave us some confidence and allowed us to settle in and finish off the game.”
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