‘It’s a slap in the face’: Fever blown out by Dallas as Arike Ogunbowale goes for 24

The Fever entered their recreation towards the Dallas Wings with one thing they’ve not often possessed all through an usually ugly rebuilding season: momentum.

On Sunday, Indiana eked out a two-point victory over the second-place Chicago Sky, a signature win towards a top quality opponent. It offered a glimmer of short-term hope and the query of whether or not the Fever’s younger core might parlay it into one other 40 minutes of fine basketball.

The reply got here swiftly and emphatically: No.

Arike Ogunbowale lit Indiana up for twenty-four factors and 6 assists, and the Fever by no means led in a 94-68 loss.

“It’s a rollercoaster in relation to a younger crew that has not been on this league,” Fever interim coach Carlos Knox stated. “Up and down feelings include the territory, however I do know that we’ll bounce again as a crew as a result of we’re decided and targeted. It simply was not the night time for us tonight.”

Most of Ogunbowale’s manufacturing got here from behind the 3-point line, the place she shot 6-9 regardless of a number of totally different defensive appears from Indiana. Double teamed within the third, Ogunbowale faked going round a display to her proper earlier than popping again left for an open look on consecutive possessions.

“I can’t give that a lot respect to how she shot and the way she performed; I believe it’s a slap within the face for us not to have the ability to reply, to know how good she is,” Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell stated. “It’s a slap within the face for us to not perceive the schemes, not understanding the place we must be with a view to shake issues up, make individuals like her more durable to protect. Clearly I wouldn’t take something away from her as a result of she’s wonderful, but it surely’s undoubtedly extra of us.”

Isabelle Harrison offered Dallas a submit presence with 16 factors, and 6-7 heart Teaira McCowan — a former Fever participant taller than anybody on Indiana’s roster — added 12 factors and 10 rebounds.

Offensively, the Fever dedicated 17 turnovers, seven of them in an unpleasant first quarter that set the tone for the remainder of the sport. Lots of them, particularly these early within the recreation, have been unforced. The Wings went up 17-6 lower than midway via the interval and led by single digits all through the remainder of the sport. Knox didn’t suppose his crew was in the fitting headspace to begin the sport as Dallas got here out sharper and with extra power.

Extra Fever: Indiana Fever use Third-quarter comeback to defeat defending champs Chicago Sky

Mitchell, who led the Fever with 22 factors and was the one participant with greater than 12, disagreed with Knox’s hope that the win over Chicago was the explanation for Indiana’s sluggish play because it begins a four-game highway journey.

“I ain’t gonna misinform you, I forgot (in regards to the earlier recreation),” she stated. “Clearly there are changes so far as recreation after recreation after recreation, but it surely don’t even register to me as a result of I do know every crew performs actually good, so for us it’s not about popping out too sizzling. It’s about us making use of strain and understanding who we could be so far as practices and video games, perceive what we gotta do. There’s nothing no one else is doing that we can’t management. It’s on us.”