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Catchings leads Indiana Fever to 10th straight win

Jul 15, 2009 - 9:07 PM By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS(AP) -- The Indiana Fever have epitomized team play during their 10-game win streak.

During the best run in franchise history and the seventh-best in WNBA annals, five different players have led the team in scoring.

It was Tammy Sutton-Brown's turn on Wednesday. She scored 22 points to help the Fever defeat the Chicago Sky 84-74.

Sutton-Brown made 10 of 11 field goals and had four rebounds and two blocks. It was the center's third time leading the team in scoring during the streak.

Sutton-Brown's teammates think the coaches should vote her onto the All-Star team. She believes she's playing at a similar level to when she made the squad in 2007.

"I think you learn a lot as you get older," the nine-year veteran said. "I've grown, and each year, you pick up new things. I can honestly say it's been one of my better years."

Perhaps the most telling statistic for Indiana is that during the win streak, Tamika Catchings, the leading vote-getter for the All-Star game, has led the team in scoring just once.

"Right now, we are playing really well together," Sutton-Brown said. "It's not just one or two people doing this. We have several in double figures every game. That indicates how good we are at each position."

Catchings showed why points aren't everything. She had 16 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals. Ebony Hoffman scored 18 points and All-Star Katie Douglas added 13 points and eight assists for the Fever (10-2).

A season-high crowd of 10,051 turned out for the matinee start. The fans were much more concerned about the streak than Hoffman was.

"To us, this is a business," she said. "We are not thinking about number 10, just the next game."

Candice Dupree led Chicago (7-8) with 17 points and 10 rebounds, but fellow All-Star Sylvia Fowles sat out with a sore right knee. Chicago improved on an 83-54 loss to the Fever on July 10 in Chicago.

"We know we are better than 30 points," Chicago coach Steve Key said. "Look at the score. We can compete."

Indiana led 43-33 at halftime and stretched the lead to 17 in the second half. Indiana kept Chicago at bay by forcing 21 turnovers.

Dupree said Fowles' absence made a difference. The 6-foot-6 center leads the league with 8.6 rebounds per game.

"It definitely makes a difference because she takes up a lot of room in the paint and we have more scoring in the paint," Dupree said. "And she also takes up the slack in rebounding. But, you can't dwell on that, and you have to be ready to play."