UNCASVILLE — The last time the Indiana Fever made the WNBA Playoffs, Connecticut Sun coach Stephanie White was leading the team in second season of her first WNBA head coaching job. Sun assistant Briann January was on the court in an Indiana jersey, averaging 7.5 points and 4.7 assists per game in her eighth season as a player.
White and January — who retired from playing in 2022 — will be on Connecticut’s sideline when the No. 3 Sun host the No. 6 Fever at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday (3 p.m., ABC) for the first round of the postseason. The Fever have not competed in the playoffs since 2016, and their last series win was a 2-1 victory over the New York Liberty in the 2015 conference finals.
“I have a special place in my heart for Indiana, for the Fever, there’s no doubt about it,” White said. “They’re one of the best teams after the break. They’re playing so well, and for us, we’ve got to make sure that we’re locked into what we need to do. It might be a soft spot for Bri and I because we’re proud of them for being back in the playoffs, but at the same time, we’re competitors, and we want to win.”
Indiana was one of the hottest teams in the league at the end of the regular season as the young roster began to find a rhythm out of the Olympic break. The Fever have gone 9-5 since the WNBA resumed in August, and four of their five losses have come against the No. 2 Minnesota Lynx and No. 4 Las Vegas Aces.
Indiana’s resurgence in the second half of the season is largely thanks to seven-year veteran Kelsey Mitchell, who is averaging 23.4 points and shooting above 50% from the field since the Olympic break after she logged 16.9 points per game on 44.3% from the field in the first half of the season. She is particularly lethal from 3-point range, averaging 3.5 makes per game and hitting more than 45% post-break.
As Mitchell’s offensive production skyrocketed, rookie sensation Caitlin Clark’s production has too. She jumped from 17 points per game before the break to 23.1 points after, improving her shooting percentages at all three levels. She also averages nearly nine assists and 5.7 rebounds.
“Now they know each other better, their flow and their timing, their spacing, their reads, their understanding where one another is going to be is really good,” White said. “Obviously they’re shooting the crap out of the ball right now, so their floor spacing makes it really, really tough … Not only have their core group and their superstars risen to the occasion and gotten better, but everybody else has too. It’s like they’ve settled into their roles. They understand what to expect, and they’re being they’re elite in those roles.”
Indiana’s biggest win since the Olympic break was an 84-80 upset of Connecticut at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Aug. 28, but the Sun hold a 3-1 lead in the series after sweeping the matchups in the first half of the year. DiJonai Carrington, who will likely bear the brunt of the assignment guarding Clark, said she felt the Sun hurt themselves more than anything in the most recent matchup with Indiana.
“It came down to a lot of little plays: Missed layups, missed assignments, letting them get out and transition off of made baskets, like just small things like that,” Carrington said. “So it’s all things that, that we can control … They have really great players from one to five, so it’s just about making it tough every possession and not having those lapses. We can’t afford to have those lapses in playoffs. We were able to get away with this sometimes in the regular season, but when it’s playoff time, that’s not gonna happen.”
The Sun have been clear since training camp that this season is about winning the franchise’s first-ever WNBA championship, and the team’s window is rapidly closing with its three biggest stars all set to hit free agency for 2025. All-Star DeWanna Bonner, a 15-year veteran of the league, won two championship over her decade playing with the Phoenix Mercury from 2010-19, and she said she sees the Sun’s potential to go all the way this year.
“I believe in my teammates. I believe in our experience. I believe in where we are and the work that we put in,” Bonner said. “I think we had a pretty great regular season, so we just continue to do what we do and don’t try to do too much. You don’t try to change too much just because it’s the playoffs. You continue to do what you do if you’re a great team.”
Carrington said Bonner’s presence has been critical in the Sun locker room as the gear up for the postseason, particularly as the team has had ups and downs through the final stretch of the regular season. Connecticut went 10-6 after the Olympic break and suffered back-to-back losses last week to the Lynx and Aces, both of whom are considered top championship contenders.
“She’s dialed in, and she’s making sure to make sure we’re on our Ps and Qs with different stuff, on and off the court, preparation-wise,” Carrington said. “While we’re going through the scout, she’s very vocal with just different things that she may see that maybe we didn’t see, or just different things that can give us any advantage, putting us in the right positions … We’re happy to have DB on our side.”
How to watch
Site: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville
Team records: Sun 28-12; Lynx 20-20
Time: 3 p.m., Sunday
Last meeting: 84-80, Fever; Aug. 28 in Indianapolis
TV: ABC
Streaming: ESPN+
