Kelsey Mitchell had 26 points and eight assists and the host Indiana Fever continued their mastery of the Chicago Sky with a 92-70 victory in a match-up of short-handed teams Saturday night in Indianapolis.
Lexie Hull added 17 points, Sophie Cunningham scored 16 and Aliyah Boston had 15 for the Fever (18-14), who played their 10th consecutive game without All-Star Caitlin Clark (groin) and their first game since losing fellow guards Aari McDonald (foot) and Sydney Colson (knee) to season-ending injuries.
Rachel Banham scored 11 points to lead the Sky (8-23), who played without forward Angel Reese (back), the team leader in scoring, rebounds and assists, for the eighth time in 10 games.
The Fever, which will host Chicago again on Sept. 5, improved to 4-0 against the Sky this season with the average margin of victory being 24.8 points.
Indiana scored the first eight points of the third quarter to open a 56-37 lead. Rebecca Allen made a field goal for the Sky’s first points of the period and Banham followed with a 3-pointer to trim Chicago’s deficit to 14.
Chicago got as close as 13 before Mitchell assisted on Cunningham’s 3-pointer and followed with a basket to push the lead to 74-54 at the end of the third quarter.
The score was tied at 10 in the first quarter before Hull and Mitchell made consecutive 3-pointers to complete an 8-0 run by the Fever, who were coming off their most lopsided loss of the season in a 95-60 defeat at Phoenix on Thursday.
Kamilla Cardoso made a layup to stop the run, but Indiana opened a nine-point lead three times, the last coming when Boston’s layup produced a 25-16 edge at the end of the first quarter.
Ariel Atkins and Sevgi Uzun made consecutive 3-pointers to start the second-quarter scoring and pull Chicago within three points. Cunningham scored 10 points as the Fever expanded the lead to 48-37 at halftime after the Sky scored just three points in the final 4:16 of the second quarter.
–Field Level Media