INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Fever are heading to the WNBA playoffs for the first time since 2016. 

The Fever clinched their spot Tuesday night without even playing a game because the Atlanta Dream and Chicago Sky both lost.

The 2024 postseason will be the franchise’s 14th playoff appearance. The Fever reached the playoffs 12 consecutive times from 2005-2016 and made its first postseason appearance in 2002. 

The Fever can now finish the regular season no worse than tied for the eighth and last playoff position, and the Fever hold the tiebreaker over both the Dream and the Sky.  

The team posted on X “WE’RE IN. we have officially clinched a spot in the 2024 @WNBA playoffs.”

The WNBA postseason will begin on Sunday, September 22.

The league says the top eight teams regardless of conference will qualify for the playoffs and be seeded based on their record. The first playoff round follows a best-of-three format where the teams are seeded based on their regular-season record.

The Fever return home on Wednesday night to face the Los Angeles Sparks at 7 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. 

Caitlin Clark has another reason to celebrate. The Fever guard is the WNBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second week in a row. Clark averaged 24 points, 9 assists, and five rebounds a game as the Fever went 4 and 0 last week.

For more information on the Indiana Fever and the 2024 WNBA Playoffs, the team says fans can go to FeverBasketball.com or text ‘Fever’ to 42576 for the latest updates.

A Missouri man was charged with murder and rape in the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old woman more than three decades after she was found dead in her Indianapolis apartment, authorities said Tuesday.

Dana Shepherd, 52, was arrested Aug. 20 in the 1993 killing of Carmen Van Huss after investigators used genetic genealogy — a technique that uses DNA evidence and genealogical research — to help identify her suspected killer, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a news release.

Authorities in Boone County, Missouri, surveilled Shepherd and took him into custody, deputy police Chief Kendale Adams told reporters.

Boone County jail records show Shepherd is being held without bond. Prosecutors in Marion County, Indiana, are seeking his extradition back to that state, according to the news release.

It wasn’t clear Tuesday if he has has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

Shepherd declined to speak with investigators after he was taken into custody, the police department said.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Van Huss’ brother said his sister was killed when he was a freshman in high school.

“There’s a lot of people that miss Carmen all these years,” Jimmy Van Huss said. “She had a lot of family, a lot of friends. She had cousins that loved her like a sister. She had an aunt and uncle that loved her like a daughter.”

“For my dad to have to find his daughter after what was brutally done to her makes this day bittersweet,” he added. “I wish he was here to see it.”

Carmen Van Huss was found dead in her apartment north of downtown Indianapolis on March 24, 1993, according to the news release.

After a co-worker at Pizza Hut told her father she hadn’t shown up to work, he found signs of a struggle at her apartment and his daughter’s body on the floor, NBC affiliate WTHR of Indianapolis reported.

Citing the Marion County Coroner’s Office, the station reported that Van Huss had been stabbed 61 times.

In the decades that followed, detectives interviewed dozens of people and followed up on hundreds of leads, but the case remained cold until a detective provided a DNA sample in 2018 to Parabon NanoLabs, a genetic genealogy company that has worked with law enforcement agencies across the United States to solve cold cases.

Five years later, in the summer of 2023, a combination of that analysis and investigative work pointed to Shepherd as a suspect, the department said. Additional DNA testing showed that Shepherd’s genetic material matched evidence found on the victim’s body and at her apartment, the department said.

“For 31 years, the family of Carmen Van Huss has been searching for answers and justice,” Adams said. “While nothing can ever replace their loved one, we hope that today’s arrest brings them some measure of peace.”

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana’s offensive line experienced a few notable changes during the offseason, making it a position of interest in Week 1 against Florida International.

Indiana returned starting left tackle Carter Smith and moved veteran Hoosier Mike Katic to center after he started all 12 games in 2023 at left guard. But as starters Matthew Bedford (Oregon), Kahlil Benson (Colorado) and Zach Carpenter (Miami) transferred out, new head coach Curt Cignetti had spots to fill.

He brought two linemen with him from James Madison, Nick Kidwell and Tyler Stephens. However, Kidwell suffered a season-ending knee injury during fall camp, and Stephens was not one of the five starters against FIU. 

That meant redshirt sophomores Drew Evans and Bray Lynch would be making their first career starts in college football at left and right guard, respectively. Evans and Lynch both committed holding penalties in the game, two of nine total penalties that cost the Hoosiers 90 yards.

Following all Week 1 games around the country, two Hoosiers graded out among the nation’s best by Pro Football Focus (PFF). Smith received an 88.5 pass blocking grade, which tied for seventh in the FBS, and PFF gave Lynch an 87.8 pass blocking grade, which tied for 13th. 

Against FIU, Indiana’s offensive line helped generate 234 rushing yards on 40 attempts, good for 5.9 yards per carry. That included two rushing touchdowns from Ty Son Lawton and a 51-yard rushing touchdown from Elijah Green. Running backs Lawton, Green and Justice Ellison each had at least one rush for 14-plus yards. 

In the pass game, Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke was sacked twice and hurried six times, according to PFF. Cignetti shared his thoughts on the offensive line’s performance in Week 1.

“We had some real nice chunks in the run game,” Cignetti said Saturday. “And most of the pressure I saw was coming off the edge in the pass game. So, you know, we would get the run game going in the second half in chunks, chunks, chunks, kind of breaking their will. Then we’d throw it, you know, and go backwards. Those guys are capable. We’re going to be okay there.”

“Pass pro, we had a couple issues, but nothing that’s not correctable there,” he said Monday after reviewing the film. “We’re not real deep there on the offensive line. We can go probably six deep with veteran guys, seven. So got to keep progressing.”

Here are the rest of the PFF grades for Indiana’s starting offensive linemen in Week 1. The first number is their grade, followed by their national ranking among offensive linemen that played at least 50% of their team’s offensive snaps in Week 1, and concluding with where that grade ranks among their career performances.

Carter Smith, left tackle

Drew Evans, left guard

Mike Katic, center

Bray Lynch, right guard

Trey Wedig, right tackle