Marissa Coleman’s career night propels Fever over Stars, 83-76
The Indiana Fever (7-6) won their fourth straight game, beating San Antonio 83-76 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse Friday night. Marissa Coleman paced the home team with a career-high 25 points. Other Fever players in double figures included Lynetta Kizer (13 points, four rebounds) as well as Shenise Johnson and Tamika Catchings (11 points each).
Coleman also set a career high with nine field goals on 16 attempts while pulling down a team-high six rebounds. The Fever have now won four consecutive regular season games for the first time since the beginning of last season. Indiana has not won five in a row since the 2012 season.
Sophia Young-Malcolm led San Antonio with 27 points and seven rebounds. Kalana Greene contributed 13 points and four rebounds while Danielle Robinson scored 12 points. The Stars were without Jia Perkins and Kayla McBride, both out due to injuries.
San Antonio heads to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday. The Fever are back in action next Wednesday hosting the Tulsa Shock.
Quotes
Fever head coach Stephanie White
“It wasn’t always pretty. We really struggled to get ourselves going. And give credit to San Antonio. The first half they dictated the tempo. They executed offensively and really slowed the game down and weren’t playing the pace that we wanted to play. We came out in the second half and really emphasized trying to bring our defensive intensity to another level and hopefully that would fuel a little bit of our offense. We did a better job, it wasn’t a pretty game but it was a good learning experience for us and I was proud of the way our team gutted it out and found a way to win.”
Fever’s Marissa Coleman
“I think in the first half we just didn’t play with a lot of energy on either end of the floor. And that was something we talked about at halftime because you could feel the energy wasn’t where it needed to be. Second half we just came in, we locked down on defense, communicated a lot more, moved the ball better on offense and we had a much better second half.”
(On Sophia Young-Malcolm)
“She’s a great player. I was guarding her in the first half, posting me up. She was utilizing her size. Second half, Catch (Tamika Catchings) locked her down and we played good defense on her the second half.”
Fever’s Shenise Johnson
“We started off a little slow. Our energy was low. We’re a good team when we’re clicking, when we’re talking on defense and we’re able to play with each other. We didn’t do that starting out in the first half, so we were trying to make sure we get our energy going in the second half. We’re a good team when we’re moving the ball. Sometimes it gets stuck in our hands and we’re not moving it as much so then we’re not getting as great, high percentage shots. That’s something we wanted to focus on in the second half.”
Stars head coach Dan Hughes
“I thought momentum went back both ways. They had it more than we did. We needed defensively to get a few more stops, to be honest with you….And I thought Coleman (Marissa) was a player they really played through and we had a difficult time kind of matching her. She kind of took our bigs away from the basket and when we went small she kind of went to it. I think it was a combination of those two things.”
Stars’ Sophia Young-Malcolm
“I thought Indiana started off the game really aggressive. And then we pretty much had to keep fighting our way through the whole time. I thought we did a great job in the second quarter coming in and tying the game. I thought our defense and our offense was really aggressive in the second quarter. I thought coming into the second half we kind of started off a little bit slacking and they were more aggressive and so we just had to keep fighting throughout the rest of the game, playing catch up. Overall I thought our defense was generally good. Congratulations to them. I thought they played hard and for us, we have to be more aggressive.”
Stars’ Kalana Greene
“We’re getting better every game. We’re trying to fill in some holes with injuries and switching up the lineups. It’s a good challenge for us. We learned a lot about ourselves, what we can do in tough situations. This is a tough aggressive team, always has been. I thought that we handled the ball well and competed with them. I think they thought that this was going to be a game that was easy for them. We made it extremely tough. And we actually had a chance to win. We lost by seven, missed seven free throws, had to fight down the stretch.”
Notes
- Indiana has shot 50 percent or better from the field in every game during their current winning streak, including a 50.8 percent mark (31-61) in tonight’s game. The Fever are 5-0 overall this season when shooting better than 50 percent from the floor.
- Over the last four games, the Fever have averaged 84.0 points per game and shot 51.4 percent from the field. Additionally, they have held their opponents to 68.8 points per game on 41.3 percent shooting.
- Including a 28-12 advantage in bench points in tonight’s game, Indiana’s bench has outscored its opponents in all seven wins this season (7-4 overall).
- The Fever and Stars will wrap up the 2015 regular season series in San Antonio on Tuesday, July 21.
By the Numbers
Points in the Paint: Stars 38, Fever 38
Second Chance Points: Stars 16, Fever 3
Fastbreak Points: Stars 9, Fever 8
Biggest Lead: Stars 2, Fever 13
Lead Changes: 5
Times Tied: 7
