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Indiana Fever
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The Indiana Fever is a professional women's basketball team that plays in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Fever are based in Indiana's capital and largest city, Indianapolis. Their first season of play in the league was in 2000. The Fever play at Conseco Fieldhouse, located in downtown Indianapolis. The team is the sister team of the NBA's Indiana Pacers.
Indiana Fever came into existence in 2000, when the state was granted an expansion franchise to coincide with the opening of Conseco Fieldhouse.
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Encyclopedia
The Indiana Fever is a professional women's basketball team that plays in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Fever are based in Indiana's capital and largest city, Indianapolis. Their first season of play in the league was in 2000. The Fever play at Conseco Fieldhouse, located in downtown Indianapolis. The team is the sister team of the NBA's Indiana Pacers.
Franchise history
The Indiana Fever came into existence in 2000, when the state was granted an expansion franchise to coincide with the opening of Conseco Fieldhouse. In their first two seasons, they were coached by women's basketball legends Anne Donovan and Nell Fortner. Led by center Kara Wolters, in their inaugural campaign the team posted a record of 9-23.
The Fever drafted University of Tennessee star Tamika Catchings in the 2001 WNBA Draft. The Fever went into the year with high expectations of a playoff berth, but Catchings tore her ACL during a college game and missed the entire WNBA season. The Fever posted a 10-22 record in 2001.
After missing the entire 2001 season, the 2002 season proved to be the breakout season for Tamika Catchings and the Fever. Catchings came out strong and became one of the most versatile players in the WNBA, easily winning Rookie of the Year honors as well as making the WNBA All-Star team. Her team competed well all year and would post a respectable 16-16 record, tying for the final playoff spot with the Orlando Miracle. Indiana would win the tiebreaker and earn their first playoff appearance in franchise history. They drew the #1 seed in the playoffs, the Liberty; with the Fever losing two games to one.
The 2002-2003 offseason brought a lot of change for the Fever. The team added Olympian Natalie Williams and Charlotte Sting star Kelly Miller before the 2003 season. During the offseason the original coach and GM Nell Fortner would resign. Kelly Krauskopf would replace Fortner as GM and immediately hire Brian Winters to be the head coach. On May 29, 2003 the Fever registered their first sellout of 18,435 and defeated the Washington Mystics on national television. The team would do better under the new coaching, but missed the playoffs, posting a 16-18 record.
The 2004 campaign was very similar to 2003's. The Fever finished with a 15-19 record. They missed the playoffs by one game in the Eastern Conference.
The Fever had their best season since joining the league in 2005, posting a 21-13 record, and made the playoffs for just the second time. In the first round, the Fever would sweep the New York Liberty two games to none, earning their first playoff series victory in franchise history. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Fever would face the heavily favored Connecticut Sun. Game 1 came down to the final seconds when Katie Douglas hit a crucial three to win the game for the Sun. Game 2 went going into overtime, with the Sun winning in overtime, thus sweeping the Fever two games to none.
In the 2005-2006 offseason, the Fever would acquire All-Star Anna DeForge from the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for Kelly Miller. Later that offseason the Fever made another All-Star addition by signing free agent Tamika Whitmore from the Los Angeles Sparks. In the 2006 WNBA Draft they selected athletic swing-forward La'Tangela Atkinson from the North Carolina Tar Heels along with Kasha Terry from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
The Fever started the 2006 season off at 4-0 and jumped out to an early lead in the Eastern Conference standings. Teammates Tamika Catchings and Tully Bevilaqua led the league in steals 1 and 2 respectively, the first time teammates led the league in 1 statistical category. The Fever posted a 21-13 record, making the playoffs for the second year in a row. In the first round, the Fever would face arch rival Detroit. Detroit won Game 1 in Indianapolis and held a one game to nothing lead in the series. Game 2 in Detroit was a high scoring affair with Tamika Whitmore scoring a WNBA Playoff record 41 points. Detroit won in the end, 98-83 and won the series two games to none.
Going into the 2006-2007 off-season, the Fever looked to improve their post play. In the Dispersal Draft, the Fever would add veteran forward Sheri Sam from the Charlotte Sting. Kelly Krauskoft and the front office then set their eyes on key Free Agent Center Tammy Sutton-Brown, signing her on March 22, 2007. The Fever would also select 6-7 center Alison Bales from Duke University in the 2007 WNBA Draft to go along with Sutton-Brown.
Going into the 2007 season, the Fever had their eyes set on the WNBA Finals. They started off the season strong, winning 16 out of their first 20 games, which was the best 20 game start in history of the Eastern Conference. Then on July 20th key player, Catchings, would injure her foot and would miss the rest of the regular season. The injury was later revealed as a partial tear of her plantar fascia. The Fever would finish 5-9 without Catchings. They managed to win the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, beating out the Connecticut Sun. They played the same Sun team in first round of the playoffs. Game 1 in Connecticut was an epic battle, going three overtimes with the Sun hanging on to win Game 1, 93-88. The Fever would win Game 2 at home by double digits forcing a decisive Game 3. In game 3, the Fever would find themselves down by 22 points late halfway through the 3rd quarter. The Fever battled back to win Game 3 in overtime by the same score as Game 1 93-88. The 22-point comeback was the largest comeback in WNBA Playoff history. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Fever played their other hated rival, the Detroit Shock. The Fever would grab an early lead in the series, winning Game 1 at Conseco Fieldhouse. With the team just 1 game away from the WNBA Finals the Fever traveled to Detroit. In Game 2, the game would be close until the 2nd quarter, when the Shock would blow the game wide open with a 14-0 run, and would easily win the game. With a spot in the Finals up for grabs in Game 3, the Fever would start off the game with an early 17-3 lead. Then late in the first half Catchings went down with another injury. This time she had completely tore her Achilles tendon. The Shocked ended up winning Game 3, 85-61.
On October 26, 2007 The Fever announced that they have declined the option for head coach, Brian Winters. Ending his four year tenure as Head coach. He compiled a 78-58 regular season record with a 5-7 playoff record. On December 12, 2007 assistant coach Lin Dunn was named his successor to the job as Head coach.
In one of the biggest trades in WNBA History the Fever traded Tamika Whitmore and their first-round pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft for Indianapolis native, Katie Douglas on February 19, 2008.
The Fever were part of the Liberty Outdoor Classic, which was the first regular-season professional basketball game played outdoors. It was played between the Fever and New York Liberty at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York on July 19, 2008 with the Fever winning the game, 71-55.
Media coverage
Chris Denari and Jane Schott are the play by play announcers for Fever games on WFNI, while Denari and Debbie Antonelli are the announcers for games that are carried by FSN Indiana. When a game is televised, a backup team of announcers is employed on WFNI.
Season-by-season records
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|colspan="6" align=center bgcolor="#14345B" | Indiana Fever
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|2000 || 9 || 23 || .281 || ||
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|2001 || 10 || 22 || .313 || ||
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|2002 || 16 || 16 || .500 || Lost First Round || New York 2, Indiana 1
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|2003 || 16 || 18 || .471 || ||
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|2004 || 15 || 19 || .441 || ||
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|2005 || 21 || 13 || .618 || Won First Round
Lost Conference Finals || Indiana 2, New York 0
Connecticut 2, Indiana 0
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|2006 || 21 || 13 || .618 || Lost First Round || Detroit 2, Indiana 0
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|2007 || 21 || 13 || .618 || Won First Round
Lost Conference Finals || Indiana 2, Connecticut 1
Detroit 2, Indiana 1
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|2008 || 17 || 17 || .500 || Lost First Round || Detroit 2, Indiana 1
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|2009 || 0 || 0 || .000 || ||
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|Totals || 146 || 154 || .487 ||
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|Playoffs || 7 || 11 || .388 || ||
Stats updated: September 23, 2008
Uniforms
2000-2006
The home jerseys were white with red, dark blue and yellow on the sides. On the front, Fever was written across. The road jersey were dark blue with red and yellow on the sides. Indiana in red letters trimmed with white on the chest.
2007-Present
These new home jerseys are white with blue and yellow strips/trim from the neck down the side. Fever is written in red across the front and on the back the player name is written in all dark blue under the number also in red trimmed in dark blue. The new road jerseys are dark blue with yellow and white trim/strips. Indiana is written on the front in red with white trim and on the back the number is in red with white trim with the player's name underneath in all white. Each jersey has the Fever's alternate logo at the top on the back.
Team and coaches
Current roster
Coaches and staff
Current
- Lin Dunn, Head Coach (2008-Present)
- Gary Kloppenburg, Assistant Coach (2008-Present)
- Jim Lewis, Assistant Coach (2008-Present)
- Ruth Helland, Athletic Trainer (2008-Present)
- Brandon Johnson, Strength and Conditioning Coach (2008-Present)
Past
Former players
- La'Tangela Atkinson
- Coretta Brown, now an administrative assistant for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball team
- Anna DeForge, currently playing for the Minnesota Lynx
- Linda Frohlich
- Gordana Grubin
- Sonja Henning
- Niele Ivey, currently an assistant coach at Notre Dame
- Deanna Jackson
- Nadine Malcolm
- Monica Maxwell, currently an assistant coach at Cal State Northridge
- Nikki McCray
- Danielle McCulley
- Kelly Miller, currently with for the Minnesota Lynx
- Bridget Pettis, retired 2006, currently an assistant coach for the Phoenix Mercury
- Kristen Rasmussen, currently playing for the Minnesota Lynx
- Kelly Schumacher, currently playing for the Detroit Shock
- Olympia Scott, currently playing for the Phoenix Mercury
- Charlotte Smith
- Jurgita Streimikyte
- Ann Strother
- Alicia Thompson
- Chantel Tremitiere
- Coquese Washington, currently head coach for Penn State Nittany Lions women's basketball team
- Stephanie White, retired 2004, currently an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky and at the University of Toledo
- Tamika Whitmore, currently playing for the Connecticut Sun
- Natalie Williams
- Rita Williams
- Kara Wolters
Retired numbers
None
External links
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