Stewart and Fiebich close the door
Ten points down in the fourth quarter, the Indiana Fever came all the way back. It still ended 109-102 to New York.
The Liberty needed every bit of Breanna Stewart at Barclays Center overnight. She finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and two steals, and she made the free throw that put her team back in front at 101-100 after Kelsey Mitchell had squared the game. Leonie Fiebich answered the next Indiana push with a driving layup for 103-100 with 57.5 seconds left.
Fiebich’s night was the surprise. The German forward poured in a season-high 20 points, one short of her career best, and hit back-to-back threes in the third quarter just as Indiana had started to breathe. Jonquel Jones added 19 points and 10 rebounds, 17 of those points arriving before halftime.
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Mitchell keeps her streak alive in defeat
Kelsey Mitchell scored 25 and reached 20 points for the 22nd game running, a league record she keeps pushing further out. She got there with 4:26 left on a short jumper in the paint that cut the gap to 96-93, then tied the game at 100 with a corner three.
Two nights earlier she had dropped 37 on the Dallas Wings. Indiana had also clinched a playoff spot on Friday when Portland lost to Toronto, joining Minnesota, Golden State and defending champion Las Vegas in the postseason field. Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham both landed threes in a second quarter that kept the Fever within touching distance.
A season series that finally moved
This was the fourth meeting between the two this year and New York’s first win in it. The series is now split. The Liberty are 8-3 across their last 10 games and climbing the seeding ladder at the right moment.
Han Xu chipped in seven points in a third quarter New York finished 85-78 in front, and Pauline Astier’s two free throws and driving layup in the fourth were the sequence that stopped Indiana’s run cold. Four playoff places remain open across the league.
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