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Douglas leads Fever past Silver Stars, 79-57

Jun 4, 2010 - 2:21 AM By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS(AP) -- Katie Douglas finally has shaken off her jet lag.

The guard scored 22 points to help the Indiana Fever beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 79-57 on Thursday night.

Douglas had struggled with her shot since returning from Turkey right before the start of the season, but the 2009 All-Star went 9 for 12 from the field against San Antonio.

"I know that my teammates and coaches have nothing but the utmost confidence in me," she said. "I definitely have been trying to get in the gym and get in a rhythm and get my shots up."

Tamika Catchings had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Fever, who have won three of four after losing the first two games of the season. She said the Fever were relieved to see Douglas return to her usual form.

"Any time a shooter goes into a little shooting slump, you know they're going to come out of it at some point in time," Catchings said. "Katie's been working on her shot in practice, going off on people. Definitely good to see her come out and have a really good game."

Indiana led the WNBA in scoring defense, but the Fever weren't satisfied. The defending Eastern Conference champions had a team meeting Wednesday to discuss regaining their identity.

"We just talked about the things that we wanted to do as a team and how we wanted to be known throughout the league," Catchings said. "Last year, we were that defensive team that everybody knew. That's the one thing that we have to get back to. Tonight was a huge night for us from that standpoint."

Indiana's Briann January sat out with a sprained medial collateral ligament in her right knee, but she said it won't require surgery and she expects to return soon.

Chamique Holdsclaw led San Antonio with 12 points and Sophia Young added 11. The Silver Stars were without All-Star guard Becky Hammon, who sat out with a strained right quad, and coach Sandy Brondello, who gave birth to her second child on Monday.

The Fever outrebounded the Silver Stars 38-27 and held them to 35-percent shooting.

"Just one of those games for us," Holdsclaw said. "We struggled from the start. Indiana is a great team. They have good chemistry and we don't."

Indiana's reserves outscored their San Antonio counterparts 33-15. Jessica Davenport scored all 11 of her points in the first half and Shavonte Zellous had 10 points and three assists while providing aggression and energy in her second game with the Fever since being traded from Tulsa.

It was San Antonio's third straight loss, and second straight blowout. The Silver Stars were coming off an 84-56 home loss to Seattle.

"In past games, we came out flat," Young said. "We have to be able to start picking it up to compete in this league. Indy played well, shot the ball well. Bottom line, we were outworked, outplayed."

Indiana led 19-12 at the end of the first quarter, then opened the second on a 7-0 run with mostly reserves on the floor.

The Fever continued to roll and led 37-23 at halftime. Indiana ended the first half on a perfect long lead pass from Douglas to a streaking Jene Morris, who scored a layup with 1 second left.

Douglas found her stroke in the third quarter, scoring nine points on 4-for-4 shooting to spark a 29-point period. Indiana led 66-40 at the end of the third.

"I am pleased with the overall energy of our starters and our bench," Indiana coach Lin Dunn said. "This was a huge team effort."