Huge crowd watches Indiana hold off Atlanta

KELSEY MITCHELL scored a game-high 29 points, helping lead the visiting Indiana Fever to an 84-79 win over the Atlanta Dream on Monday.

Caitlin Clark added 19 points, seven assists and seven rebounds for the Indiana Fever (14-16), who have won three of four. Aliyah Boston chipped in 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Damiris Dantas tallied 11 points off the bench.

Tina Charles led Atlanta (10-19) with 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Rhyne Howard scored 16 points. Allisha Gray logged 12 points and Jordin Canada had 10 for the Dream, who dropped their second straight game.

The contest drew a crowd of 17,608, a franchise record for a Dream home game. The game was played at the Atlanta Hawks’ venue, State Farm Arena, instead of the Dream’s usual locale, Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia.

After Indiana led by 14 at halftime, Ms. Mitchell extended the visitors’ advantage to 55-38 with a 3-pointer on the opening possession of the third quarter.

With Indiana up 68-51 after Dantas’ 3-pointer with 1:54 left in the period, the Dream went on an 8-0 run before Ms. Clark’s layup with 21.2 seconds remaining gave the Fever a 70-59 lead entering the final quarter.

The Dream’s Nia Coffey began the fourth with a layup before Ms. Clark and Ms. Mitchell drained 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, giving the Fever a 76-61 lead.

From there, Atlanta went on a 13-0 run, with Ms. Howard’s triple cutting Indiana’s lead to 76-74 with 4:13 to go.

Indiana responded with a 5-0 spurt, as Ms. Mitchell converted a three-point play to give Indiana an 81-74 edge. After Ms. Charles hit a jumper on the next possession, neither team scored again until Boston split a pair of free throws to put the Fever up 82-76 with 1:09 left.

Ms. Coffey then cut the deficit in half with a 3-pointer at the 53 second mark. Ms. Mitchell missed a 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession, giving the Dream a chance to tie the game. However, Ms. Coffey and Ms. Charles each missed game-tying 3-point tries before Boston stole Ms. Coffey’s pass. Ms. Mitchell then drained two free throws with five seconds left, sealing Indiana’s win.

The Fever led by five points after one quarter, and 11 points from Ms. Mitchell in the second quarter boosted the halftime margin to 52-38. — Reuters