INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever‘s offense went stale for long stretches of Friday’s 88-84 loss to the Washington Mystics. There was the 22-7 run between halves that vaporized what was once a 13-point lead, the sub-standard 7-for-21 conversion rate from 3, the eight turnovers for 13 points in the second half and long stretches of stagnation, particularly in the third and fourth.
They over-dribbled at times, the off-ball movement wasn’t there and they did a lot of standing, Fever coach Stephanie White said afterwards.
“It’s almost like we gave the ball to Kelsey (Mitchell) and tried to watch her work,” she continued. “And that’s not when we’re at our best. Yes, we certainly want her to have the ball in her hands, but we have to continue to get movement with and without the basketball. And it was getting stuck.”
As the offense sputtered, it was notable that Chloe Bibby did not see any minutes. Signed to a seven-day contract, then to a rest-of-season deal last month, the 6-2 forward is a 42% shooter from behind the arc and has provided the necessary offensive spark at points throughout her tenure.
White said there were thoughts of putting Bibby in, but the decision to keep her on the bench was rooted mostly in defensive matchups.
“It was the match-up defensively more than anything with how we were going to try to play them and in some of our switches and things like that,” she continued. “So that was mostly the reason.”
With regards to the team’s tight rotation Friday night, White said that was also rooted in defense.
“Some of it was defense, being able to execute the type of defensive coverages that we wanted to have against the way that they play. Rebounding was some of that, too, making sure we had people that were in position when we were in some of our switches to rebound.”
White continued to say fouling was the biggest issue defensively (Washington attempted 26 free throws; 14-for-16 in the fourth quarter), while the offense’s turnover woes down the stretch were too much to overcome.
Starters Lexie Hull (35:19), Kelsey Mitchell (32:44), Sophie Cunningham (27:58), Aliyah Boston (26:41) and Natasha Howard (25:38) did most of the heavy lifting with Odyssey Sims (26:24), serving as first off the bench. Damiris Dantas (12:11) and Makayla Timpson (12:55) also saw action.
The Fever (18-16) travel to Connecticut on Sunday.
Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter.