WNBA Roundup: Fever defense dooms Lynx

Catchings ties steals record in 73-63 Indiana victory

? Tamika Catchings tied the WNBA record with nine steals and scored 23 points in the Indiana Fever’s 73-63 victory against the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night.

Catchings, the league scoring leader, tied the record set by Phoenix’s Michelle Brogan in 1998.

Minnesota Lynx guard Lynn Pride, left, pulls down a rebound against Indiana Fever center Olympia Scott-Richardson. The Fever beat the Lynx, 73-63, Friday in Indianapolis.

“We knew what we needed to do on defense,” Catchings said. “We kind of feed off each other, and everybody started playing real well on defense. The opportunities came in the passing lanes, and we took advantage.”

Coquese Washington tied her career high with 12 points to held Indiana (11-13) climb within a half-game of fourth-place Miami in the Eastern Conference.

Tamara Moore had 19 points for Minnesota (7-17), which has lost nine straight road games. Svetlana Abrosimova added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

“Tamika played great,” Moore said.

“As usual, she was everywhere. She didn’t have as many rebounds, but when you tie the WNBA record in steals, it’s going to have an impact on the game. She really took us out of what we wanted to do.”

The Fever used a 10-2 run to take a 66-57 lead with 2:22 to play. Nikki McCray scored four points and blocked a shot during the surge.

“Tamika was a warrior on the boards and defensively,” Fever coach Nell Fortner said, “She hit shots at big times. They came at crucial times when we had to score.”

Indiana scored 22 points off Minnesota’s 24 turnovers.

“Their pressure caused us to turn over the ball,” Lynx coach Heidi VanDerveer said.

“The crowd was very loud. It took us out of our comfort zone.”

Starzz 74, Mercury 61

Salt Lake City Margo Dydek had 21 points and matched her career high with 16 rebounds as Utah Starzz beat Phoenix 74-61 Friday night, the Mercury s WNBA-record 18th straight road loss.

“Margo is playing great basketball,” Utah coach Candi Harvey said. “She dominated and was aggressive. She’s one of the better post players in the league right now on both ends of the court.”

Adrienne Goodson added 17 points for the Starzz (17-8) and Natalie Williams had 11. Jennifer Gillom had 17 points for the Mercury (8-15), winless on the road since July 27, 2001.

“We’ve got a young team and all we can do is keep working hard and playing hard,” Mercury coach Linda Sharp said.

The Starzz used a 12-2 run to take a 32-24 lead, and Phoenix never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Utah’s Marie Ferdinand, a Western Conference All-Star, was scoreless in 24 minutes. Utah’s Semeka Randall, acquired from Seattle on Monday, scored eight points all of free throws in her Starzz debut.

“I thought Semeka did very well,” Harvey said. “I was very impressed with her energy, her spark off the bench. She’s a tremendous defender and she certainly did not hurt us on offense, either.”

Gordana Grubin added 11 points for Phoenix.

It was Dydek’s 150th WNBA game.