Aliyah Boston recorded a season-high 27 points and 13 rebounds and Kelsey Mitchell added 24 points, lifting the Indiana Fever to a 91-84 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday in Indianapolis.
Boston sank 12 of 21 shots from the floor and Mitchell joined Katie Lou Samuelson in making three 3-pointers.
Samuelson celebrated her 27th birthday by scoring 11 points for the Fever (4-10), who rebounded after squandering an 18-point lead to notch their third win in the past five games.
NaLyssa Smith added 10 points and rookie Caitlin Clark finished with seven after making just 3 of 11 shots from the floor and committing seven turnovers.
Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard sank six 3-pointers to highlight her 26-point performance. Cheyenne Parker-Tyus scored 18 points off the bench and Allisha Gray added 12 for the Dream (5-6), who have dropped four of their last five games.
Atlanta scored 18 of the first 24 points of the fourth quarter to seize an 80-79 lead with 3:37 remaining after Howard sank a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions. Boston sandwiched layups around a pair of free throws by Haley Jones, and Mitchell converted twice from the charity stripe and added a layup to push Indiana’s advantage to 87-82 with 39.1 seconds to play.
Boston made a layup and Mitchell sank a pair of free throws to seal the win.
Samuelson drained a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to ignite a 15-6 run for Indiana. Boston scored seven straight points to cap that surge and give the Fever a 33-24 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Mitchell sank three 3-pointers during the second quarter, including an off-balance shot from the corner just before the buzzer to extend Indiana’s advantage to 59-44 at halftime.
Smith made a basket in the interior to give Indiana a 62-44 lead early in the third quarter.
–Field Level Media
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