Future hope, present frustration on display for Fever in loss to Seattle
INDIANAPOLIS -- Playing the Seattle Storm for the second time in four days, the Indiana Fever showed subtle but tangible signs of progress. They were better offensively than on Friday's 73-57 loss in Seattle, moving the ball better and scoring 16 more points. Guard Kelsey Mitchell scored 21 points after being held to three out west. Storm forward and the WNBA’s leading scorer Breanna Stewart was quiet in a 12-point night where she shot 4-of-12 from the field.
Indiana still lost 95-73, tying the biggest margin of defeat on their five-game losing streak.
Such is the reality of a rebuilding season for the Fever (5-18). The focus has become development and improvement, no matter how marginal, with the team mired in a particularly brutal stretch of a difficult season.
“As a competitor and a person that wants to be in that elite conversation, it’s hard,” Mitchell said. “All we can do individually is find it in yourself and figure out what you’re playing for and collectively take that and put it together.”
A pair of rookies provided a spark not present in Seattle while Indiana remained competitive early. With Queen Egbo in health and safety protocols, rookie Emily Engstler got the start. In her first five minutes on the floor, the Louisville product knocked down two jump shots and denied 6-4 center Ezi Magbegor at the rim.
“I loved Emily,” interim coach Carlos Knox said. “She’s not used to starting, and especially on a WNBA level, but she brings us a spark off the bench that’s tremendous.”
Destanni Henderson played with a similar energy, scoring the Fever’s only points as Seattle (14-8) closed the first quarter on a 10-2 run. The 5-7 guard crashed boards — at one point going up among the trees to put back a Mitchell miss — and played with a frenetic energy on defense, occasionally staying in the backcourt after a basket to try to steal the inbounds pass.
But while the young players gave the Fever a glimpse of what the future could look like, they also served as reminders of Indiana’s current lack of experience and consistency. Engstler didn’t score after the first quarter, missing her last five shots. Henderson was also scoreless in the second half.
Meanwhile, old problems reemerged to offset the new improvements. NaLyssa Smith knocked down a 3-pointer to cut Seattle’s lead to seven with 2:33 left in the third quarter. By the end of period, the lead was 21.
It was nothing new. All year long, the Fever have allowed opponents’ scoring runs to balloon into game-deciding stretches of domination. On Tuesday it led to their fifth straight double-digit loss. Veteran guard Danielle Robinson cited a lack of poise.
“There just has to be another level that we get to,” she said. “Another level of confidence, another level of trust.”
“It’s the ability to compete for 40 minutes," Knox said. "Defensive schemes and offensive sets and those type of things that come down to the wire, I think we need to stay more engaged the last 10, 15 minutes of the game. I think we compete for a certain amount of time and sometimes it comes with a young team.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WNBA: Indiana Fever blown out again by Seattle, losing streak hits 5
