06.15Standing O for Catchings
Tamika Catchings received a standing ovation from the fans at Conseco Fieldhouse when she entered the game with 3:02 left in the first quarter.
“I went to check-in and everybody started cheering, and I was like, ‘OK, I hope I don’t mess up,”’ Catchings said. “The support I’ve gotten from the fans has been awesome.
“After going through warm-ups and sitting there watching the game, my nervous energy started building up. When (Indiana coach Lin Dunn) put me in, I was so tired from thinking about riding the bike, when I was going to go in and what was going to happen.”
Catchings’ doctors suggested she play around 10 minutes Sunday.
“I thought we used that time well,” Dunn said. “You saw flashes of her play.”
San Antonio, which had its lead cut to 49-48 on Catchings’ layup to end the third quarter, took its biggest advantage of the game, 61-51, following Wauters’ 3-pointer and Ruth Riley’s jumper with 5 minutes left.
The Fever got within 4 on Katie Douglas’ two free throws with 46 seconds left, but Young’s jumper and Wauters’ two free throws sealed the victory.
“We knew they would be fired up with Catchings coming back,” Wauters said. “We … played strong defense and played well collectively as a team.”
The Silver Stars and Fever were tied at 27 at halftime after eight ties and seven lead changes. San Antonio’s biggest advantage was four points, and Indiana’s was two.
“It seemed like throughout the whole game we would get up by four and they would just be right there,” Young said.
Douglas scored 17 and Ebony Hoffman added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Indiana (5-4), which played without center Tammy Sutton-Brown (Achilles’ tendinitis).
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