INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Indiana Fever finally found a team they
could dominate.
Rita Williams scored 20 points as the Fever beat the Detroit
Shock 83-66 on Sunday for their first season series sweep since
joining the WNBA last year. It was Indiana's second-largest winning
margin of the season, after a 21-point victory over Detroit in
June.
"We match up better with them and seem to really play well,"
coach Nell Fortner said.
With one game to go, the Fever (10-21) also assured themselves
of at least one more victory than they had in their expansion
season.
"Once we got that lead, they kind of were in the dumps, and we
just wanted to continue to play hard and not let them back in the
game," Williams said. "Our offense went really well, really
smoothly. We were able to get the ball inside and hit our shots. I
think that was the key."
Indiana's final home game drew a season-high 15,198 fans to
Conseco Fieldhouse. The Fever finish the season Tuesday night at
Orlando.
"It's tremendous, especially with all the support we got
tonight," Williams said. "The fans have been great to us all
year. For them to come out and support us like this is great."
Williams, who also had 10 assists, scored 12 points in the first
half when Indiana led by as many as 10 and held a 38-32 lead at the
break. Detroit, which lost all three games to the Fever this
season, missed its first five shots of the second half and fell to
9-22, its worst record in four seasons in the league.
"The first five minutes of the second half, we played really
well and almost put the game out of reach," Fortner said.
"As far as Rita Williams is concerned, we feel she is in the
process of taking her game to another level," Fortner said of the
Fever's only All-Star player.
Three baskets by Alicia Thompson and a basket and free throw by
Williams pushed Indiana's lead to 49-33 during an 11-1 run at the
start of the period. Five minutes later, Williams' third 3-pointer
made it 60-42.
Detroit closed within 64-57 with five minutes remaining, but two
3-pointers by Gordana Grubin and a fast-break layup by Stephanie
McCarty started a 14-3 run that put the game away. Indiana took its
biggest lead at 81-61 on a rebound basket by Jurgita Streimikyte
with two minutes to go.
"They had a nice run and more energy than we did," Shock coach
Greg Williams said. "Grubin did a nice job off the bench. Williams
did an outstanding job."
Olympia Scott-Richardson added 14 points and nine rebounds for
Indiana, while Streimikyte and Thompson finished with 10 points
apiece. Detroit was led by Wendy Palmer with 17 points and Elena
Tornikidou and Astou Ndiaye-Diatta who scored nine points each.
The victory was Indiana's seventh at home this season, two more
than last year, and snapped a four-game losing streak.
Detroit, which swept the Fever 3-0 last year, closes at home on
Tuesday against Cleveland. The Shock's worst record before this was
14-18 last season.
"There has been a lot of learning about what to do,"
Ndiaye-Diatta said. "It is kind of disheartening and hard to
swallow not being in the playoffs."
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