Game Info

Verizon Center | 7pm | WATCH: Monumental Sports Network | #MysticsFever Tickets

Probable Starters

Mystics (6-7) – G – Cloud, G – Hill, F – Ruffin-Pratt, F – Meesseman, C – Dolson

Fever (5-8) – G – January, G – Johnson, F – Coleman, F – Catchings, C – Larkins

Last Season Against Indiana

– The Mystics went 3-2 against the Fever last season (2-1 at home).

– Ivory Latta had two of her highest scoring totals of the season against the Fever, dropping in 25 points in an overtime win last September and 24 points (21 in second half) in a win in Indiana last June.

Building Momentum
The Mystics have won two straight and four of their last five entering Wednesday night’s tilt with the Indiana Fever. They notched their first home win of the season on Saturday night in a 95-65 rout of the Atlanta Dream, their largest margin of victory this season. Five Mystics scored in double figures, led by Tayler Hill’s 15 points, and the team combined to shoot 52% in the win.

After a shaky start (2-6), the Mystics have found their rhythm over the last two weeks, and now have a chance to get back to .500 with a win tonight, just before the midway point of the season.

“I definitely think it started with us getting a roster full of 12 healthy bodies and I think this past game was our best showing,” said second-year point guard Natasha Cloud.

“We’ve been road warriors all season, doing better on the road than we have at home, but I think we’ve just all gotten it in our mind that we need to protect our home court and we have such an amazing fan base behind us, so we just really need to execute and win games here,” Cloud continued.

The Mystics have a chance to really get on a roll as they’ll play their next four games at Verizon Center. However, they’ll play three of them over a five day period, something not common in the WNBA.

“Of course we have our home court advantage, we’re comfortable here, but you know three games in five days is still rough on the body. You take it one day at a time, coach won’t be too hard on us, and we’re being efficient with what we’re doing, recovery is huge this week for us,” explained Cloud on the compact schedule.

Catchings Final Season

2016 will be Tamika Catchings final season in the WNBA. She’s played all 15 seasons in Indiana and will go down as one of the greatest players to have ever laced them up in the W. She can also still play at a high level and leads her team in scoring at 13.1 ppg.

And as long as Catchings has been on the Fever, they have been a stout defensive team and one that will make a team pay for turnovers.

“Indiana is always a tough match up because they’re such a gritty team defensively, they are just up in your shorts and all over the place,” said Cloud.

“With us, our biggest key is to take care of the ball, find the opportunity to attack and just be aggressive on the offensive end. And defensively, just trying to keep them out and stay true to what we do – we have a lot of size on our team, so defensively just sticking to what we know best and boxing out,” Cloud explained.

Mystics head coach Mike Thibault said that while in his first year or two they may have had to send extra help on Catchings, because Indiana has become such a good perimeter team, they’ll now play her straight up.

“What we did last year, we tried to play them honestly, not give extra help and not just let her scorer either. Emma has become a good matchup for her and Tamika now has to work on the other end against us, which adds a different dynamic to this matchup. They are such a good 3-point shooting team and they spread floor so well, you cant over focus on one player,” said Thibault.

The Meesseman-Catchings matchup will certainly be an exciting one to watch!

The action tips at 7pm on Wednesday night.