Dream survive, 87-83, as Fever fall to 1-16

Brittney Sykes scored 20 points, and the Atlanta Dream held off the struggling Indiana Fever 87-83 Sunday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Fever lost their sixth straight game and are now 1-16 on the season. Their only win came against the Dream two weeks ago, by a 96-64 margin. Atlanta got revenge Sunday.

Tiffany Hayes scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting and made big plays in the final minute, and Angel McCoughtry added 15 points for the Dream, who had to survive a second-half rally by the Fever.

Indiana trailed by 17 at halftime but scratched back into the game in the third quarter. Victoria Vivians hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, trimming the Atlanta lead to 62-56.

Vivians had a game-high 27 points for Indiana.

Candice Dupree hit a jumper with one minute to play that got the Fever within four at 83-79. But Hayes had a jumper and two free throws in the final 30 seconds to finish off Indiana.

Sykes poured in 18 points in the first half, as the Dream took command. She hit all three of her 3-point attempts in the first half and had a big block on a breakaway layup that fired up her teammates.

Atlanta scored the last seven points of the second quarter and took a 50-33 lead into halftime. Indiana went scoreless in the last 2:46 of the first half and was held to just 11 points in the second quarter.

The Fever announced Sunday that they have signed veteran shooting guard Cappie Pondexter to a free agent contract. Pondexter, who was recently let go by the Los Angeles Sparks, is the fourth-leading scorer in WNBA history.

The Dream went 1-3 on their road trip and now return home for a pair of games, starting Friday against the Seattle Storm.

Indiana hits the road for two games, beginning Tuesday at Minnesota.

–Field Level Media