By Justin Albers, For The Herald Bulletin
INDIANAPOLIS — When Katie Douglas was with the Connecticut Sun, she loved to torch the Indiana Fever. Douglas’ highest scoring performance during her years in Connecticut came against the Fever in 2007.
But now that the Purdue-grad has returned to her hometown team, Douglas spends her time beating up on her former club.
Douglas continued her strong offensive play by scoring 32 points and helping the Fever to a 94-85 overtime victory against Connecticut before a Thursday night crowd of 6,538 at Conseco Fieldhouse.
“I just want to win,” Douglas said. “Every game matters.”
In a game consisting of an intense, playoff-like atmosphere, Indiana (14-4) came up with just enough plays late to pull out a win.
The Sun (9-8) took their first lead (64-62) since the opening minutes with 9:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. The teams traded baskets for the next several minutes, but Connecticut looked as if it would steal a game on the road.
Not on this day.
Douglas answered an Asjha Jones layup with a highly contested 3-pointer from the top of the key to even the game at 79 with 1:49 left.
Then it was Tamika Catchings’ turn as she drove to the rim and tied the score at 81 to force overtime.
The Fever outscored Connecticut 10-1 in the extra period to win their 10th consecutive home game and extend their lead in the Eastern Conference to four games over Washington.
“The intensity down the stretch, in the fourth quarter and overtime, was amazing,” said Fever coach Lin Dunn. “I thought it looked like a playoff game between two teams that play so hard. I’m thrilled for the players because they played so hard.”
Douglas and Catchings showed why they are one of the top one-two punches in the WNBA by scoring a combined 55 points on only 30 shots. Catchings added seven rebounds and knocked in 13-of-14 of her free throw attempts, the one miss coming with 11.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter that would have ended the game in regulation.
But Indiana also got plenty of production from its role players.
Tamecka Dixon came off the bench to score eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, and Jessica Moore proved to be a worthy replacement for the injured Tammy Sutton-Brown as she contributed 12 points, four rebounds, and three steals.
“What Moore and Dixon did tonight, in my mind, won the game for us,” Dunn said. “We got the usual performances from the usual people. It’s those two that stepped up and really helped us win this ballgame.”
Jones led the Sun with 21 points and nine rebounds, but it was the newest Connecticut players that kept the team in the game.
Foreigners Anete Jekabsone-Zogota (Latvia) and Sandrine Gruda (France) combined to score 29 points and pull down 16 rebounds. The duo was not with the Sun before the season began, and Catchings said they would make Connecticut an even more difficult playoff opponent.
“The more they play together, the better they’ll get,” she said. “I think they’re still making some adjustments, but they’re going to get better and better, and we have to continue to get better as well.”
