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Silver Stars-Fever Preview

Aug 26, 2009 - 8:08 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

San Antonio (11-16) at Indiana (19-7), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Two losses to open the season preceded a lengthy winning streak.

The Indiana Fever are hoping for a similar response to their current slide.

The Eastern Conference-leading Fever try to match a franchise record for the longest home winning streak Thursday night against the struggling San Antonio Silver Stars.

The Fever (19-7) opened 2009 with losses to Atlanta and Minnesota, but reeled off 11 consecutive victories and moved into the East's top spot.

Indiana holds a 4 1/2-game lead over the Dream in the conference standings, but it is looking to rebound from losses at Sacramento and Seattle.

"It's better to do this in the regular season than it is in the playoffs," Fever guard Katie Douglas said after Saturday's 74-60 defeat to the Storm. "This is a veteran team. I don't think there's any panic, but there's definitely a sense of urgency."

Though the Fever failed in two opportunities to clinch a playoff berth, they earned their fifth consecutive postseason bid Tuesday when Chicago and Washington lost.

Indiana now returns to Conseco Fieldhouse for three straight games. A victory Thursday will equal a franchise-best 13-game home winning streak set from July 22, 2002-July 10, 2003.

The Fever, however, have lost three in a row to the Silver Stars since a 59-55 victory on Aug. 17, 2007 in San Antonio.

The defending Western Conference champion Silver Stars (11-16), meanwhile, are just trying to get back to the postseason.

In a rematch of last season's WNBA finals Sunday, San Antonio fell to defending champion Detroit 99-84. The Silver Stars have lost three straight and are tied with Minnesota for fourth place in the West.

"This is really tough, but with seven games left, we've got to look forward," center Ann Wauters said after San Antonio dropped to 4-10 on the road. "We have to find a way to play better basketball with each other."

Becky Hammon, second in the league in scoring at 19.7 points per game, scored 15 and Sophia Young had 24 as the Silver Stars posted an 84-65 home win over Indiana on July 23.

Fever All-Star forward Tamika Catchings was 0 for 9 from the field and did not score in that game. Catchings is averaging 14.9 points on 42.2 percent shooting since that loss.

Indiana will reach the 20-win plateau for the fourth time in five seasons with a victory Thursday.