The Indiana Fever’s Cinderella run within the WNBA playoffs got here to an finish by the hands of the Las Vegas Aces with a 107-98 extra time loss in Sport 5 of the semifinals. Though their journey is over, the Fever confirmed plenty of coronary heart and willpower regardless of adversity hitting them another time with main scorer Kelsey Mitchell exiting the sport within the third quarter.
The Fever weren’t anticipated to go very far within the playoffs on account of a number of season-ending accidents to key gamers, together with star shooter Caitlin Clark. Nonetheless, they defied the percentages and reached the semifinals for the primary time since 2015.
“They’ve been an absolute pleasure to educate,” stated coach Stephanie White postgame. “It is an unbelievable group of ladies, an extremely related group. They’re a fantastic instance to all people what it means to only put one foot in entrance of the opposite, to persevere, to welcome individuals into the fold, to not give in to circumstance, to steer with grace and dignity, to sacrifice for a larger good and a typical good. I am simply I am so grateful to educate these ladies, and I am simply grateful for this expertise with them.”
With so many setbacks, the spark needed to come from a number of gamers at completely different moments of the season. Odyssey Sims confirmed her veteran expertise on Tuesday with a 27-point efficiency. 5 different Indiana gamers scored in double figures, together with Aliyah Boston, who accomplished a double-double with 11 factors and 16 rebounds, and Shey Peddy, who scored seven of her 13 factors off the bench within the third quarter.
Mitchell left the sport halfway by means of the third quarter after she went down with what coach Stephanie White described as decrease physique cramping. On the time of the incident, the Fever had been down 55-59. White gave her staff a speech within the huddle about how they wanted to remain locked in and combat for her, similar to they’ve achieved for different teammates who suffered accidents this season.
The message was acquired and the staff very a lot regarded like they had been prepared to drag off the upset.
With 52 seconds remaining, Sims tied the sport 84-84 on the free throw line. She then locked down on protection and stopped Jackie Younger from scoring within the subsequent possession.
Issues bought much more tough for the Fever when Aliyah Boston acquired her sixth foul with 26.4 seconds remaining in regulation, which took her out of the sport and awarded Younger two free throws. Nonetheless, Sims remained locked in and got here in clutch with a floating leap shot to even the rating as soon as extra.
Regulation noticed a number of ties and lead modifications, however extra time shortly turned one-sided with Chelsea Grey making large performs for Las Vegas. By the tip of the night time, the Aces had an excessive amount of depth for Indiana to beat. Grey completed the night time with 17 factors, whereas A’ja Wilson and Younger turned the primary teammates to attain over 30 factors in playoffs historical past with 35 and 32 factors, respectively.
Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon gave credit score to the Fever for his or her persistence and congratulated them for what that they had completed.
“They might not go away. They only wouldn’t go away,” Hammon stated. “…. Simply hats off to them. I assumed they did an unbelievable job all the best way round, their roster, their teaching workers. They only gasoline pedaled the entire time.”
Whereas this wasn’t the specified end result for the Fever, they nonetheless acknowledged that they had quite a bit to be proud.
“Those who’ve been right here from begin to end, they’ve had plenty of modifications all through the season, and for us to proceed to combat, we by no means again down each sport,” Sims stated. “…Coach stored telling us now we have extra to present. So I am tremendous proud simply to be part of this group. We got here a great distance. We did. We beat the percentages. We weren’t even purported to be right here, and for us to be right here, we completed out robust. It wasn’t the result we wished, however we nonetheless bought to carry our heads excessive.”
