Stars hope to replicate success against Fever (Jul 20, 2017)
San Antonio may have the worst record in the WNBA, but one of its wins was against the Indiana Fever. The Stars hope to duplicate that feat when the teams square off for the second time in eight days on Thursday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.
The Stars (2-18) beat the Fever 79-72 on July 12 for their first road win of the year. Any momentum San Antonio gained from that win has since been squandered by back-to-back road losses to Connecticut on Sunday and to Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon.
San Antonio heads home after coughing up a double-digit lead in the first half and falling to the Dream 88-75 on Tuesday. The defeat assured the Stars of a fifth straight losing season. They committed 20 turnovers in the setback, 13 of them in the second half.
The Dream outscored the Stars 23-10 in the third quarter to grab control of a game they led by 18 and trailed by 17 at different points. It was the second consecutive outing in which San Antonio was doomed by a bad third quarter after being outscored 33-10 by the Sun on Sunday.
San Antonio played Tuesday without star guard Kayla McBride, who sustained an ankle injury during the fourth quarter of the 89-75 loss at Connecticut.
Before the injury, McBride scored 14 points, the 15th time in 17 games this season she reached double figures. She also chipped in three steals, a reminder that the Stars will miss her on both ends of the floor.
After the game, Stars coach Vickie Johnson said, "We are going to take Kayla to the hospital and get her some X-rays and just go from there. The doctor is very positive because she is able to put weight on it."
Indiana (8-12) visits the Alamo City on the heels of an 84-77 win at Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon that snapped the Fever's five-game losing streak. The victory was just the second in Indiana's past seven games.
Erica Wheeler had 20 points and seven assists to lead the Fever, Candice Dupree added 17 points, and Briann January had seven points, a season-high seven rebounds and seven assists.
Wheeler made 6 of 10 shots from the field and was 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Dupree, selected Tuesday as an All-Star reserve for the Eastern Conference, had three steals.
The Thursday matchup in San Antonio will be the Fever's third game in four days in three different time zones, a tough road for a team scuffling to get back on track.
After taking a five-day break for the WNBA All-Star Game, Indiana heads back to the road for a game at Dallas on July 25.
"Until we do a better job at all aspects of play and give effort every play and every second, we're going to come up short," Indiana coach Pokey Chatman said after last week's loss to San Antonio.
"I wish I had some type of rocket science stuff I could tell you. Maybe the pass could be better. Maybe the balance could be better. Maybe it's the follow-through. It's discipline. It's not rocket science."
