Aliyah Boston notched 17 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter and Aari McDonald scored a career-high 27 as the Indiana Fever won 107-101 over the visiting Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday night in Indianapolis to grab their third straight victory.
Playing without fellow star teammate Caitlin Clark (groin injury) for a fifth consecutive game, Boston, who also recorded 12 rebounds for a career-high fourth consecutive double-double, was a non-offensive factor through the first three quarters for the Fever (15-12), who still led 74-72 entering the fourth.
Then she scored her team’s first 14 points of the period, included 10 straight for either team after Kahleah Copper gave Phoenix (16-10) a 77-76 edge less than a minute into the fourth.
Boston went 6-of-11 from the field and 10-of-13 at the free-throw line for Indiana, which shot 51.6 percent from the field, including 11-of-24 from 3-point range. McDonald scored 17 in the first half.
Meanwhile, Alyssa Thomas had 32 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists for Phoenix, which started strong and shot 49.3 percent overall. The Mercury, though, committed 19 turnovers that led to 25 Fever points. Copper scored 22 as the Mercury lost for the fourth time in five contests.
Indiana led 55-50 at halftime, and 72-62 during the third quarter. However, the Mercury scored 10 of the final 12 of the third — six coming from Sami Whitcomb (18 points) during that stretch — to trail by just two entering the fourth.
The Fever were behind by as many as 12 in the first quarter, and 30-20 entering the second. Then, they took advantage of eight Phoenix turnovers in the second quarter and made five of their eight first-half 3-pointers to outscore the visitors 35-20 in the period.
Indiana trailed 35-26 when it scored the next 12 points of the contest. Seven of those points came via McDonald, who went 6-of-7 from the field and hit all three of her 3-point attempts in the opening half.
Indiana’s six first-quarter turnovers matched their made field goals during the period. Those miscues led to seven points for the Mercury, who got 21 combined from Thomas, Copper and Satou Sabally to take that 10-point lead after the first 10 minutes.
–Field Level Media
