Fever fall to Mercury for second time; Kelsey Mitchell takes another step in record books

Indiana’s second game against Phoenix in three days looked nearly identical to Monday’s loss. In both games the Fever started slow, falling to a nine or 10 point deficit, before exploding midway through the first quarter to take a lead. On Wednesday, Indiana went on a 20-9 run in the back half of the quarter and carried  a 25-24 lead into the second period.

But in both matchups against the Mercury, the Fever struggled to finish out the half by missing defensive assignments, leaving the weak side open and falling into a scoring drought. Phoenix ended the first half on a 9-2 run to regain a lead. And just like on Monday, the Mercury never trailed again as the Fever were dropped 99-78, marking a third-straight loss.

More: Fast forward to 2072. What's next for gender equity in college sports?

The Mercury have one of the shortest benches in the league, typically giving just six players significant playing time, but seven players scored in double figures on Wednesday. Skylar Diggins-Smith continued to be a challenge for the Fever as she put up 17 points, dished out 7 assists and had 4 steals. Sophie Cunningham added 14 points while Shey Peddy and Diamond DeShields each had 13 points.

“With veteran leadership and people that understand the game, they spaced the floor,” Fever head coach Carlos Knox said. “They did a very good job of getting downhill and getting to the paint, with drawing kicks. So it was very difficult for us at times and at moments. I thought we had a pretty good first half. But the last few minutes of the second quarter is something that we've been struggling with. I felt like we had low energy defensively. So it was difficult, because again, they can spread the floor out in so many different ways.”

As for the Fever, just two players scored more than 10 points: Kelsey Mitchell with 21 and Victoria Vivians with 13. As a team, the Fever shot just 43% from the field while allowing the Mercury to shoot 54%.

Phoenix pushed the tempo out of the gates, building up an early 10-point lead before Indiana was able to match the pace. Once they did, the Fever went on an 8-0 run with Queen Egbo making a couple of putbacks then finding Destanni Henderson for a transition three. Then, at just 26 years old, Mitchell became the Fever program’s third all-time lead scorer after hitting a deep ball.

“It makes me feel extremely proud and happy to have her, because Kelsey is a nonstop worker,” Knox said. “She's definitely worthy of All-Star appearance. And she won't stop. That's one of the things that I love about her -- she does not stop. She will continue to be better, stronger and really be prideful when it comes to different things on the basketball floor. So it makes me feel extremely happy.”

While Indiana outscored Phoenix in the first quarter, the Mercury wouldn’t let it happen again. After a strong start to the second quarter with Mitchell nailing another three then scoring an and-1 layup, the Fever couldn’t sustain the success.

The Mercury immediately stretched the lead out of halftime as Diana Taurasi got hot from three and DeShields got aggressive on offense leading to free throws. Indiana’s offense fell stagnant again, as Phoenix often forced shots late in the possession along with a couple of shot clock violations.

I think we had too many empty possessions,” Mitchell said. “It was a lot of times where we got to a point where they did miss a shot and when they did, we didn't convert. It made our offense down the stretch again really, really difficult. Our transition was bad, it was just everything was choppy. And because it was choppy it was hard to stay in rhythm and I think that's what really got us.”

Emma Cannon played her first minutes of the game midway through the third quarter and was the only constant for the Fever offense. She scored all seven of her points in the final minutes of the third period.

However, the Fever offense wasn’t able to pick itself back up in the final quarter and was outscored 24-15 in the final 10 minutes.

Indiana continues its road trip out west and will play Seattle Friday night, before hosting the Storm next Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Fever continue on three-game losing streak after losing to the Mercury