Fever earn split of home-and-home series against Dream

Natasha Howard scored a game-high 26 points to help lead the visiting Indiana Fever to an 81-76 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday.

Kelsey Mitchell contributed 17 points, while Caitlin Clark added 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting from the field — including an 0-for-5 effort on 3-point attempts — and six assists.

Lexie Hull chipped in 10 points off the bench for Indiana (2-1), which avenged its 91-90 home loss to the Dream on Tuesday.

Rhyne Howard led Atlanta (1-2) with 24 points, while Brionna Jones produced 15 points and 11 rebounds. Allisha Gray and Te-Hina Paopao each added 11 points for the Dream.

After seeing their three-point halftime deficit grow to eight, the Dream pulled ahead with a 10-0 run — a surge that included consecutive treys from Paopao. Brittney Griner’s layup gave the Dream a two-point edge before Indiana responded with layups from Mitchell and Natasha Howard followed by a 3-pointer from Sophie Cunningham.

Indiana’s Aliyah Boston scored her first points with a layup in the closing seconds of the third quarter, giving the Fever a 61-58 lead entering the fourth.

The Fever were held to just two fourth-quarter points until the 4:46 mark, when Natasha Howard’s mid-range jumper knotted the score at 65. Clark later made two of three foul shots to tie the game at 71 with 3:06 left, but Gray answered with four straight points.

Natasha Howard’s layup cut the Fever’s deficit in half before Mitchell drained a 3-pointer to give Indiana a 76-75 lead with 1:25 remaining. Clark and Rhyne Howard then traded foul shots, and Boston’s layup pushed Indiana’s advantage to three with 36.4 seconds remaining.

After Rhyne Howard’s offensive foul, Mitchell and Cunningham each split a pair of free throws to ice the win.

Atlanta held an 18-13 lead after the first quarter, but the Fever scored the first 11 points of the second for a six-point edge.

Gray’s layup later cut Atlanta’s deficit to 33-31, but baskets from Cunningham and Mitchell pushed Indiana’s lead to six. Rhyne Howard closed with a 3-pointer to trim the Fever’s halftime lead to 37-34.

–Field Level Media