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Catchings' 28 points lifts Fever past Sky in OT

May 23, 2010 - 3:57 AM ROSEMONT, Ill.(AP) -- A week of practice together made all the difference for the Fever.

Tamika Catchings scored a game-high 28 points, including eight during overtime, and Indiana withstood a late charge to defeat the Chicago Sky 92-86 on Saturday night.

A week ago, the concern was fatigue and cohesion as four Fever starters played their first game since returning from European offseason squads. On Saturday, a cohesive and comfortable Indiana team snapped a season-opening two-game losing streak.

"It was disappointing to start the season 0-2, but the one thing we kind of built off was being able to have practice together," said Catchings, the ninth-year veteran. "We had a whole week to get ready for Chicago and we came out more focused."

Catchings scored eight of her team's first 10 points in the extra session, including the go-ahead layup with 13.5 seconds left that gave the Fever an 88-86 lead.

Shay Murphy added 20 points and a team-high 10 rebounds while center Tammy Sutton-Brown added 12 points for Indiana.

"We showed a lot of character tonight," Fever coach Lin Dunn said. "It was gut-check time, especially when they came back and tied it and we had to go into overtime."

Chicago drew a franchise-record 6,477 fans in its first game at suburban Allstate Arena, it's new home after playing four seasons at the UIC Pavilion.

The Sky, struggling through their first 0-3 start it the franchise's five-year history, rallied from a 78-72 behind Sylvia Fowles in the final 2 minutes. Her running hook shot with 14 seconds left tied the game at 78 and forced overtime.

"My teammates are confident in me that I should have the ball the last few minutes, and it worked out in my favor," said Fowles, who finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds. "But it's very frustrating (to lose). We did a couple of things that we shouldn't have done and started guessing in overtime, and it kind of caught up to us."

Joining Fowles in double figures for Chicago was Epiphanny Prince with 20 points, Cathrine Kraayeveld with 16 and Shameka Christon with 11.