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Saturday, Jun. 3 3:00pm ET
Fever fall in home opener | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Once the Orlando Miracle found a way to stop Indiana's Alicia Thompson, the rest was easy. Especially with Shannon Johnson at the free-throw line. Johnson had a career-high 10 assists and scored 16 points, including Orlando's last seven points on free throws, as the Miracle overcame a 15-point deficit to beat the Fever 88-82 Saturday. "My teammates had confidence in getting me the ball, and it was my job to knock down the free throws," said Johnson, who went 10-of-11 from the line, making her 20-for-21 in three games this season. Thompson, a collegiate star at Texas Tech, had a career-high 22 points and 15 rebounds for Indiana, but she had only two points in the second half, when the Miracle took control. "She gets rebounds, points, she can do it all," Orlando coach Carolyn Peck said. "We turned up our defense in the second half, and the rhythm changed from the philosophy of the structured zone to a more individual full court. ... We tried to force too many things (in the first half). I challenged Jannon Roland to step up and play stronger and take Thompson out of the game at the defensive end." Two baskets by Roland, a 3-pointer by Adrienne Johnson and a free throw by Nykesha Sales tied it at 50. Baskets by Kara Wolters and Thompson started an 8-2 run that gave the Fever a 60-52 lead. Indiana still led by five before four straight free throws by Cintia dos Santos and a fast-break layup by Elaine Powell put Orlando in front for good at 65-64. "Orlando did a great job taking away our post game in the second half," Fever coach Anne Donovan said. "They fronted in the low post, they sagged in with a lot of help. So they pretty much neutralized our post game. Where we had success in the first half, we didn't make adjustments in the second half." The Miracle built the lead to seven points with just over five minutes to go. Monica Maxwell, who added 17 points for Indiana, cut the lead to 84-82 with a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left, but Shannon Johnson was fouled twice after that and hit the clinching free throws with 13 seconds remaining. "Even though we are an expansion team, we need to know we can win, and we know we have to play 40 minutes," Maxwell said. "We must improve our rebounding, ball movement and take more pride in our defense. We know we're good, and we know we can win." Adrienne Johnson finished with 15 points, while dos Santos and Taj McWilliams added 13 apiece for the Miracle. Wolters added 15 points and Stephanie McCarty 12 for the Fever, who outrebounded the Miracle 43-21 but committed 18 turnovers to seven for Orlando. "It's important for us not to play tentative, but we got that way in the second half," Donovan said. "We were holding the ball too much, fouling early and putting them in the bonus. We just have to learn to close things out." Thompson, who had a career-high 13 points in the season opener at Miami on Thursday, eclipsed that in the first half. She had one basket in the opening minutes, added 10 points during a 16-4 run that put the Fever ahead, and had two free throws minutes later to give Indiana a 22-13 lead. After a basket by Shannon Johnson, Thompson had two more baskets during an 11-1 Indiana run as the Fever took their biggest lead at 33-18. At that point, with just over four minutes left in the first half, Thompson had 18 points, matching the total for the Miracle. "I tried to do what the team needs, rebounding, scoring and defending," Thompson said. "But I would rather win. We have just got to keep our heads up, keep working and give the fans something to yell for." She finished the half with 20 points, although two baskets and a free throw by Shannon Johnson cut Indiana's lead to seven points before McCarty's two free throws with four seconds left made it 43-34 at the half. The Fever took a 12-point lead on a 3-pointer by Chantel Tremitiere at the start of the second half before Orlando began its comeback. | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Cleveland 72 Washington 49
Orlando 88
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