Special Contributor // Jon Marshall
Indiana Fever guard Shannon Bobbit went the entire night not scoring a bucket. She didn’t even attempt to score. Not until the final seconds at least. With thirteen seconds remaining in the game she sliced through the Washington Mystics defense for a hanging floater to capture a 61-59 victory on the road.
Indiana was the clear aggressor in the first half quickly jumping to a 10-4 lead. For much of the first half, the contrast in season performance thus far was obvious. For Washington (only three wins this season) careless play resulting in missed easy shots and turnovers continued to plaque them. Often times the offense remained stagnant.
The Fever meanwhile boasts the best record in the Eastern conference and they showed why with an impeccable inside-outside threat from Tamika Catchings, Katie Douglas Jessica Davenport and Tammy Sutton-Brown. They led at the half 37-31.
Washington certainly could find solace despite trailing. In the first half they shot at a 30 percent clip compared to Indiana’s 58 percent. At one point, Indiana was at 81 percent.
The Mystics crawled their way back into the game after Crystal Langhorne’s baby hook off the glass to make it a 44-44 game with a little over three minutes to go in the third. Indiana held a 50-48 lead at the end of the quarter.
Washington grabbed the 56-55 lead with Matee Ajavon’s long range jumper. Indiana answered right back with Sutton-Brown’s bucket down low.
Ajavon was clutch throughout the fourth. Her highlights included hustling back to stop an easy break away lay up from Erin Phillips and nailing much needed jumpers. With 23 seconds left and five on the shot clock, Avajvon missed a shot that would have given Washington the lead.
After a jump ball won by Indiana, they were given 13 seconds left which was all the time Babbit needed. The 5-2 Tennessee product saw 6-2 Crystal Langhorne guarding her and quickly drove maneuvered inside for the floater and win.
Four players scored in double figures for the Fever (13-6), including Catchings with 16 and Sutton-Brown with 12. Ajavon led all scorers with 19. All-star forward Crystal Langhorne poured in 17 and grabbed 7 rebounds.
In the Mystics (3-14) locker room, there were no talks of a moral victory in staying with the top team in the conference.
“I mean we’re playing with everybody in the league,” Langhorne said. “No one is blowing us out. So I mean this is every game and then we’re not closing out games. It’s just getting tough.”
Washington gets back to action next Saturday when they host the New York Liberty. Ajavon says at this point, it’s all about getting a win somehow.
“We’ve been that close, whether it’s one stop or three stops we’ve just been that close,” she said. “At this point we’re close to every team in our league. We just have to get wins.”
Leave a Reply