INDIANAPOLIS - The Fever stood one win away from a WNBA title. The city of Indianapolis had been buzzing for days. The fans had packed Conseco Fieldhouse for the third straight game. It was supposed to be a history-making night that Fever fans would always remember.

Kaite Douglas shot only 2 for 14.  Photo by Susan J. Wilden.

When the final horn sounded, the game had turned into a woeful shooting performance that they’d like to soon forget.

The Phoenix Mercury held Indiana to 40.8 percent shooting from the field, including just 2-19 from beyond the arc, winning 90-77 and evening the WNBA Finals at two games apiece. Cappie Pondexter led Phoenix with 22 points and seven assists, while Penny Taylor came off the bench to add 17 points of her own.

Even despite Indiana’s shooting woes, the game was close in the fourth quarter. After trailing 72-65 at the close of the third, the Fever closed the gap to 72-68 after a Tamika Catchings bucket. After that, however, Phoenix locked down on defense, only allowing one more Indiana field goal over the last 8:45 in the game.

Pondexter spoke about how well her team played despite the pressure of being one game away from elimination. 

“We know our backs were against the wall, but we couldn't focus on that. We had to come out and play Mercury basketball, which I think we did for 40 minutes. We wanted to come out very positive with a lot of energy on both ends of the floor and attack.”

Catchings led all players with 24 points and 12 rebounds for her third straight double-double of the Finals. Fellow Fever forward Ebony Hoffman continued her playoff success by adding 17 points and eight rebounds. Center Tammy Sutton-Brown was the only other Fever player in double-digits with 12 points, but missed half of her shots, including several from only a few feet away from the basket.

Fever guards Katie Douglas and Briann January were the main culprits behind Indiana’s shooting inaccuracy. Combined, the two guards shot an unusually low 3-for-23 (13 percent), and just 1-for-11 (9 percent) from behind the three-point line.  The poor shooting was uncharacteristic from the duo in the Finals, as together they had shot 50 percent over the first three games of the series.

Fever coach Lin Dunn pointed out that Indiana’s poor shooting had an effect on other parts of the Fever’s game as well. 

“We let our shots that we missed –- our open shots, our good looks -– we let that bother us so that our focus on the other end was not as it should be. They only got four offensive rebounds, but it seemed like they got some key ones at key times, or they rotated the basketball and hit a big 3 when there were only two seconds on the [shot] clock.”

Tied at 2-2, the WNBA Finals will now move to Phoenix for the deciding Game 5. The game will tip off at 9pm Eastern and can be seen on ESPN2.