WNBA notebook: Fever rising after 4 straight wins

After opening the season with two losses, the Indiana Fever and former Stevenson High School star Tamika Catchings have bounced back with their longest winning streak in nearly two years.

The Fever entered the weekend tied for first place in the Eastern Conference with four straight wins, the fifth streak of at least four in franchise history. It's also their longest since a team-record six-game run in July 2007.

"We are playing a lot better since our first two games," Indiana center Tammy Sutton-Brown said. "We did a gut check. We have refocused on defense, something we want to be known for."

The Fever allowed 91.5 points per game in season-opening losses against Atlanta and Minnesota. During wins against Seattle, Los Angeles and a home-and-home with Detroit, Indiana has given up an average of 62.8 while not allowing more than 70 in any game.

The Fever are also averaging a league-leading 11.0 steals per game on the season.

"I am really proud of our team," guard Katie Douglas said. "Our chemistry is really good with this group, since we were together last year also. And our new players coming in have fit our chemistry."

In the Fever's latest win, 82-70 at home against Detroit last Sunday, they rallied from a 17-point third-quarter deficit for their second win in three days against the defending WNBA champions.

"To get a win up there and then get down by 17 and persevere and come back, last year we would not have been able to do that," said Douglas, the team's leading scorer at 17.7 ppg, followed by Catchings at 13.7 points per game.

Indiana - tied going into Friday's games with Washington atop the tight East standings with seventh-place Detroit 21/2 games back - finished 17-17 last season after reaching 21 wins in each of the previous three years.

Belinda breaks out: After averaging just 4.0 points in the first four games, Belinda Snell had a career-high 21 for San Antonio in a 91-87 win over Phoenix on Tuesday night.

Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes sensed Snell was pressing too much while trying to fit in with the team, so he gave her a pep talk in the airport Monday while waiting for a return flight to San Antonio following weekend losses at New York and Connecticut.

"When we sat there and talked," Hughes said," I said, 'You just need to relax a little bit, and know we believe you're a playmaker. Just try to get close to what you do well.'

"I think she's been concentrating so much to learn our system, and I know our system isn't easy."

Snell acknowledged the coach's talk helped.

"Previous games I've been a bit tense, worrying about every little thing I did out there," she said. "(On Tuesday) I was a little more relaxed and just tried to play my own game."

Snell's big night off the bench gave San Antonio four players in double figures, along with starters Becky Hammon (19 points), Ruth Riley (16) and Sophia Young (13).

"That's what we've got to move toward," Hughes said, "when we have that balanced scoring."

Welcome to the WNBA: Kristi Toliver was on the Maryland team that won the NCAA championship during her freshman season.

Toliver played in the NCAA tournament all four years, reaching the Final Four again as a senior earlier this year. She averaged 14.9 points and 5.4 assists in her career for the Terrapins, and was selected No. 3 overall by Chicago in the WNBA draft in April.

So how's the adjustment to the pros going?

"I think that the length, the speed and the athleticism of the league has been the biggest adjustment," said Toliver, who is averaging 7.3 points and 2.4 assists in 12.1 minutes per game. "It's the best of the best playing night in and night out. It's great to play against that kind of competition."

Local update: Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton, the former Naperville center/forward who starred for Neuqua Valley High School and Purdue, is playing about 6 minutes a game for the Los Angeles Sparks. The 6-foot-3 rookie is averaging 2.0 points per game and 1.5 rebounds.

Players of the week: Washington's Alana Beard and Seattle's Lauren Jackson were selected as the league's players of the week for the Eastern and Western conferences, respectively, for the second week of the season.

Jackson earned the honor for the 14th time, trailing Los Angeles' Lisa Leslie by one for the most in WNBA history. The two-time MVP averaged 25.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in the Storm's wins against Minnesota and Phoenix.

She had a season-high 26 points and a career-best 6 steals against Minnesota on June 19, and has topped 20 points in every game this season.

Beard was selected for her fourth weekly award after averaging 25.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in the Mystics' two games. She scored 31 points in a win against Chicago last Saturday, including the tying jumper with 6:04 left and then a 3-pointer about 40 seconds later that gave Washington the lead for good.

Scoreboard watch: Phoenix at Minnesota, Saturday, 7 p.m. Both teams missed the playoffs last year, but entered the weekend near the top of the Western Conference. The Mercury were percentage points behind first-place Seattle, with the Lynx a half-game back. Phoenix won the teams' first matchup, 104-80 at home on June 17. - Detroit at New York, Thursday, 6:30 p.m. The East rivals meet for the first time since the Shock beat the Liberty in the Eastern Conference finals last year en route to their second title in three years, and third in the last six. Detroit won three of the four regular-season matchups last season, and then advanced in three games in their postseason matchup.

Stats: Seattle's Lauren Jackson entered the weekend leading the league in scoring at 23.4 points per game. Phoenix's Diana Taurasi (22.6) was next, followed by Minnesota's Seimone Augustus (21.0), who is out for the rest of the season. - Washington's Crystal Langhorne was tops in rebounding at 8.5, followed by Sylvia Fowles (8.1) of the Chicago Sky. Atlanta's Sancho Lyttle and Los Angeles' Tina Thompson were next at 8.0. - The Storm's Sue Bird led the way in assists at 7.4, followed by the Mystics' Lindsey Harding (6.3) and the Mercury's Temeka Johnson (5.8). - Lynx center Nicky Anosike reached 100 career steals in the fifth-fewest games in WNBA history. Anosike accomplished the feat in her 42nd game, trailing only Teresa Weatherspoon (33 games), Tamika Catchings (35), Yolanda Griffith (38) and Kim Perrot (38). - With her first steal in last Sunday's loss to Indiana, Detroit's Katie Smith became the first player in league history with 5,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 900 assists and 300 steals.