Fever's playoff push gains steam heading into World Cup break

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever knew the importance of going into the FIBA World Cup break on a high note.

Following the game against Connecticut on Friday night, Indiana has nearly three weeks off from games as WNBA players represent their home countries at the World Cup in Berlin, Germany.

The Fever, who are fighting for a top-4 spot in the playoffs, didn’t want to sulk for three weeks. Especially if that loss came to Connecticut, the second-worst team in the league.

“I think for everyone, we want to end this segment of games on a good note,” Fever guard Lexie Hull said at practice on Thursday. “I feel like we’ve picked up momentum since the end of the All-Star break, so we want to spend the next couple weeks in a good mood.”

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For a short while, though, it seemed like Indiana would need to sit on a loss. The Sun raced out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter and led by nine after 10 minutes.

Then, the Fever woke up. They outscored the Sun 39-15 in the second quarter, including a 17-2 run over the final minutes of the half to flip the game on its head and get up 15 points by halftime.

They dominated the rest of the game and ended up winning by 20 points. Now,everyone except for Team USA members Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston and Stephanie White will have a three-week break from games.

“We’re just excited, you know, a great win tonight,” Makayla Timpson, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, said. “That’s what we wanted to achieve, especially with the practices that we had leading up to this game. So, going out on a high note, we’re going to support AB and CC, we’re going to watch them on our TV and everything —”

Clark, fresh off a 34-point, 12-assist outing, interjected: “You’re going to get up at 8:15 (am)?”

(Team USA’s first game of the World Cup starts at 8:15 a.m. ET on Sept. 4)

“Yeah man, I’m excited,” Timpson responded. “But I mean, it’s just a great feeling for the team overall. Just keep our momentum moving forward.”

The Fever players not heading to Germany will take a full week off, then return for practices with assistant coaches Austin Kelly and Briann January as they await the return of Clark, Boston, and White. And those players, even after a couple weeks off from games, will need to harness that momentum that came into the break.

Indiana, which moved into fourth in the standings with a win over Connecticut and Atlanta’s loss to Portland, will return to play on Sept. 18 by heading to Toronto, then host Washington on Sept. 20, host Minnesota on Sept. 22, and travel to Minnesota for the regular season finale on Sept. 24.

It’s a sprint to the finish — only two games separate Las Vegas at the third spot in the standings and Washington at sixth. And the Fever are hoping to come out of that disarray with a top-4 hosting seed.

“We’ve gone through these breaks all the time in this league,” White said. “What we’ve done up until this point, it comes to a screeching halt. Then you’ve got to find it again, and then it’s a sprint to the end.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Fever's playoff push gains steam heading into World Cup break

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