Fever vs. Tempo: Kelsey Mitchell Scores 27 as Indiana Sets Franchise Record for Points in Regulation

With 7.4 seconds left in the third quarter on Tuesday night, Sophie Cunningham let another 3 fly, and a game Toronto had spent most of three quarters hanging around in finally started tipping over. She hit another one to open the fourth. By the time the horn sounded at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the scoreboard showed a number no Fever team had ever reached in regulation.

The Indiana Fever beat the Toronto Tempo 113-91 for their fourth straight win, setting a franchise record for points in regulation. Kelsey Mitchell scored 27 on 9-of-11 shooting, Caitlin Clark had 21 points and 14 assists, Aliyah Boston posted 18 and 11, and Cunningham came off the bench for a season-high 24.

Toronto Hung Around, Until It Couldn't

This wasn't a laugher right away. Indiana led 26-20 after one, with Mitchell scoring nine and Boston seven, but the Tempo won the second quarter 30-27 and went to the break down just 53-50. They did that despite Brittney Sykes leaving before halftime with an apparent leg injury. She needed help getting off the floor and never came back. Nyara Sabally (hamstring) and Kiki Rice (left ankle) were out to begin with, and Julie Allemand was limited to 11 minutes. There were 11 lead changes in all, and for most of a half, a shorthanded road team was making a home crowd of 15,017 work for it.

The third quarter ended that. Toronto actually led 59-57 with 7:31 left in the period, and then a 9-0 Indiana run in about a minute and a half made it 66-59. The Fever kept pouring it on from there. Mitchell scored 12 in the period and Cunningham hit three 3s, accounting for 21 of Indiana's 32 points as the lead grew to 85-73.

Cunningham's next make, to begin the fourth, made it a 15-point game. Maria Conde's three-point play had it at 95-81 midway through the period, but there was no real comeback in this one. Clark hit a 29-foot step-back with 3:24 left, then found Lexie Hull for a layup, and Cunningham's two-pointer at 2:17 pushed the lead to 106-82, its high point of 24. Raven Johnson added a 30-footer, and Damiris Dantas got to 113 at the line in the final minute.

The Backcourt Plus One

Mitchell was absurdly efficient: 9-of-11 from the field, 3-of-4 from deep and 6-of-6 at the line, in 32 minutes. There are shooting nights, and then there are nights when the defense might as well send a thank-you card.

Cunningham was the headline-stealer. She shot 8-of-11, went 6-of-7 from 3, grabbed six rebounds, committed no turnovers and finished plus-26, the best mark of the game by a wide margin, and she did it off the bench. Between them, she and Mitchell went 9-of-11 from deep. Everybody else on the roster went 4-of-19.

Clark, for her part, had one of those nights that shows how much she can do when the shot isn't falling. She went 5-of-15 overall and just 1-of-8 from 3, and she still finished with 21 points, 14 assists and five rebounds, thanks largely to 10-of-14 shooting at the line. She also had six turnovers, the price of doing business for someone with the ball that much. Boston's 18 and 11 came with four assists, two steals and two blocks, on 7-of-11 shooting. Off the bench, Makayla Timpson had six rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes and finished plus-17, and Johnson's six points came with a plus-15.

Toronto, to its credit, kept scoring. Laura Juskaite led the way with 19 on 8-of-11 shooting while picking up five fouls. Marina Mabrey had 18 points and seven assists, Conde scored 12 with five assists, and Isabelle Harrison added 11 with eight rebounds. Sykes had 11 in just 19 minutes, and Kia Nurse scored 10 off the bench. Six players in double figures usually gets you more than a 22-point loss.

Ninety Seconds and a Lot of Threes

The turning point is easy to find. Toronto led by two with 7:31 left in the third, and the entire second half was sitting there waiting to be decided. By 6:00, the Tempo were down seven and Indiana had found a gear they couldn't match.

What followed was the Cunningham show. All nine of her third-quarter points came on 3s, including that dagger with 7.4 seconds left, which was Indiana's 10th of the game. Toronto had shot well enough to stay close, finishing at 45 percent overall and 44 percent from deep, but a team playing short on bodies can only chase shooters for so long. Indiana won the third 32-23 and the fourth 28-18.

By the Numbers

• 28-of-33: Indiana at the line, against 12-of-19 for Toronto, a 16-point margin.
• 43-27: The rebounding gap, including 10-5 on the offensive glass.
• 13-of-30: Indiana from 3, led by Cunningham's six.
• 25-25: Assists. Both teams moved it. Only one could finish.
• 52 percent: Indiana's shooting from the floor.

That Regulation Qualifier Matters

Here's why the word regulation is doing real work: the Fever scored 114 against Chicago just five nights earlier, but that game needed overtime, and they had only 98 at the end of the fourth. This one was 113 straight through 40 minutes.

Indiana is now 9-5 and 6-2 at home, with four straight wins. The Fever closed Commissioner's Cup play at 5-1, second in the Eastern Conference, and Atlanta comes in on Thursday. Toronto drops to 7-8 and 3-5 on the road, with three straight losses after falling 86-85 at Washington and 102-77 at home against Atlanta. The Tempo are at Connecticut on Friday.

Not Quite My Tempo

J.K. Simmons spent all of Whiplash screaming about whether the drummer was rushing or dragging. Toronto had the same problem on Tuesday, only reversed: for a half it kept perfect time, and then Indiana turned up the speed until nobody in maroon could keep up. Not quite their tempo, and at 113 points, not quite anyone's.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Context as reported by the Associated Press and the Indiana Fever.