• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

DeSouza scores 14, Dream beat Fever 66-62

May 17, 2010 - 2:13 AM ATLANTA(AP) -- Erika DeSouza had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Atlanta held Indiana to four points in the fourth quarter to beat the Fever 66-62 Sunday night.

The Fever (0-2), led by seven points in the third quarter and 58-53 entering the fourth, but only made one basket until the closing seconds.

"It looked like we hit a mental wall," Fever coach Lin Dunn said. "We had way too many turnovers and just couldn't do anything. I've never had a team struggle like that."

Tamika Catchings scored 18 points and Ebony Hoffman added 17 for the defending Eastern Conference champions.

Armintie Price scored 14 points, and Angel McCoughtry had 10 points for the Dream (2-0) despite needing three stitches to close a cut on her lower lip in the first half after getting elbowed by Catchings.

"Defense wins game and that's what happened," Price said. "We knew we had turn it up and stop them."

Both teams were playing for the second night in a row. The Dream won 75-70 in San Antonio on Saturday, while the Fever lost 72-65 at home to Washington.

"Both teams were tired, but we kept battling," said McCoughtry, last season's WNBA rookie of the year. "It looked like they were more tired than us."

The Dream are without Chamique Holdsclaw, who requested a trade during training camp. She signed a three-year contract with Atlanta in returning to the WNBA last season and averaged 13.9 points despite knee problems.

"This team doesn't stop fighting and they certainly didn't this time," Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors said.

Atlanta won despite shooting just 33.3 percent and making only 4 of 21 shots in the fourth quarter.

"They got a lot more from their bench than we did from ours," Dunn said. "Price really hurt us."