The Indiana Fever are one of the WNBA's lowest-scoring teams this season, but they seem to have little problem finding their groove when facing the Chicago Sky.
Indiana will try to defeat Chicago for the second time this month as the teams meet on Saturday night at Conseco Fieldhouse.
The Fever (9-9) are averaging 71.3 points this year, trailing only Washington for the league low in scoring. Indiana, though, has topped that total in seven of nine all-time meetings against the Sky, going 6-1 in those contests.
In their first matchup of the year on July 2, Tamika Catchings came off the bench to score a team-high 18 points, and Tammy Sutton-Brown added 11 and 12 rebounds in the Fever's 74-67 win at Conseco.
For Catchings, it was her eighth game back after suffering a torn Achilles' tendon during last season's Eastern Conference finals. Recovery following surgery forced her to miss the first eight games of 2008.
"I definitely feel like I am getting back," said Catchings, who is averaging 10.0 points and 4.8 rebounds this season. "Every day is a process. It's one step closer to where I want to be."
The win also improved Indiana to 4-1 all-time at home against Chicago.
The Fever's bid for a season-high three-game winning streak failed on Tuesday with a 50-48 loss to the Mystics in the league's lowest-scoring game of the year. Ebony Hoffman had 16 points and nine rebounds for Indiana, which shot 33.9 percent (19-of-56) from the field.
Chicago's loss to the Fever earlier this month began a skid that reached three games with a 75-67 defeat to Western Conference-leading San Antonio on Thursday.
Jia Perkins had six points through three quarters, but led the Sky with 17, and Candice Dupree went scoreless in the second and third quarters yet finished with 13.
"We can't turn it on and off like that," Dupree said. "We have young players, but we have to play hard for 40 minutes."
Chicago (5-12) trailed by 21 after three quarters, but made a late charge by outscoring the Silver Stars 23-10 in the fourth.
"We have to stay positive even though this loss hurts," said Perkins, who averages a team-leading 17.2 points. "Your offense works off your defense. It's not rocket science; we just need to get our defense together."
The Sky, who have allowed an average of 77.3 points this season, are 0-6 when giving up at least 78.
The Fever and Sky will meet for the final time in the regular season on July 22 in Chicago.
