Los Angeles (July 20, 2018) – The Indiana Fever (3-21) took down the Los Angeles Sparks (14-10) 78-76, using a
dominant third quarter to stifle LA’s late comeback attempt.
After the teams exchanged baskets to start the first, Jantel Lavender hit a long two and brought down three offensive
boards for the put-back, giving the Sparks a 6-2 lead. A Candace Parker 3-pointer was soon answered by two consecutive
long balls from Fever rookie Victoria Vivians, tying the game at 9 with 6:03 to play. With the Sparks up four, Parker
spotted up for her second three of the night, extending the Sparks’ lead to 18-11. With the score 20-15, Lavender
converted a three-point-play to give her 11 points in the opening quarter. The Sparks would take a 23-15 lead into the
second frame.
After a Karlie Samuelson turnover led to a Fever 3-pointer at the other end, Samuelson responded with her own long
ball to maintain LA’s eight-point advantage. At the 7:11 mark, the Fever surged to a 7-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer
from Kelsey Mitchell, cutting the Sparks’ lead to a single point. A driving layup from Tiffany Mitchell gave the Fever their
first lead of the night, 29-28 (4:53). With the score tied at 32, Chelsea Gray acrobatically tipped an offensive board to
Lavender for the basket, giving the lead back to the Sparks. With 19 seconds to play, Gray found Parker in the paint for
the easy two, sending LA into the locker room leading 40-37. Lavender scored a season-high 19 points in the half, while
Vivians’ nine points on 3-6 from long range led the Fever.
The Fever came out strong in the third quarter, going on a quick 8-0 run to take a 45-41 lead at the 7:55 mark. Odyssey
Sims hit a cutting layup to stop the run, but Natalie Achonwa answered with a 15-foot jumper to keep Indiana’s lead at
four. Free throws from Pondexter and a jumper from Vivians gave Indy their largest lead of the night at 51-43. Two more
buckets from Pondexter fueled a 6-0 run that extended Indiana’s lead to 58-45. The Sparks looked to be heading into the
fourth on a positive note with four straight points, but K. Mitchell had other plans. As time expired, she drained a 34-
foot long ball to silence the Staples Center crowd and send the Fever into the fourth quarter up 66-54. Indiana outscored
LA 29-14 in the frame.
With the Fever leading 70-56, the Sparks went on an 10-0 run to cut the Indy lead to four with 5:08 remaining.
Consecutive mid-range jumpers from Erica Wheeler put the Fever back up by eight, but Parker answered with back-toback
baskets to push the score to 74-70. With Indiana leading 77-72, Gray pulled the Sparks within three with a short
corner jumper with 27.6 to play. After Wheeler went 1-2 from the line, Gray hit again to cut the Fever’s lead to 78-76
with 15.8 left in the game. On the subsequent inbound from half-court, Wheeler turned the ball over and it was
recovered by Essence Carson. Carson took a contested jumper that ended up in the arms of Parker, who put up a lastsecond
layup attempt with less than a second left that rimmed out. Parker argued for a foul, but the whistles were silent
and the Fever took their third win of the year, 78-76.