With 7:39 left in the second quarter of Thursday’s preseason game between the Atlanta Dream and the Indiana Fever, the Dream led by 15 points. Then, Fever bench guard Grace Berger checked in.
The storyline was, why’d it take that long? Berger was absent for the whole opening quarter and also two minutes into the second. That story soon changed: Berger was the X-factor responsible for whittling Atlanta’s largest lead away. The 13,028 fans in Gainbridge Fieldhouse may as well have called the ballgame right then. Yet they’d miss the floor general masterfully conduct her corps.
Within 66 seconds of action, Berger picked up three assists –– all to leading scorer NaLyssa Smith. During the last two plays of the sequence, Smith put her defender on their back with her behind-the-back crossover, scored, and drained another shot to pull the Fever within single digits. By halftime, the Fever only trailed by one point. Berger had all of Indiana’s five assists.
The guard ended with six points, five rebounds, and seven assists.
“She came in and she pushed when we needed to push and she kicked ahead,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “She got us into an offense when I needed her to play off the ball. I mean, that’s Grace having to learn the point position and a wing, could be two, could be three, depending on who she’s out there with. But she did, I agree with you. She stabilized us.”
Indiana’s stagnant start didn’t provide assurance for the eventual 83-80 win. Top overall pick Caitlin Clark shot 0-for-4 beyond the arc in the first quarter, but recuperated to near-triple-double status with 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Yet without Berger on the court in the first, Clark –– actively adjusting to the WNBA level –– looked overwhelmed at the point guard spot. Kelsey Mitchell (ankle) and Erica Wheeler (illness), Indiana’s most veteran guards, did not play.
Grace Berger stepped up for the Fever
Berger took over the reins at the point when she checked in and handed it back to Clark, who settled in when she checked back into the game alongside Berger. The whole team settled in. The younger trio of Berger, Clark, and fellow rookie Celeste Taylor combined to score Indiana’s last 11 points of the first half. Berger and Clark were in the lineup together to close out the win. Berger’s game-ending block also denied Atlanta from tying it up 83-all in the waning seconds.
“I thought Grace Berger came in and played really well,” Clark said afterward. “I think Grace came in, she was like what, a +16 and had seven assists. I thought she was just really great. She handled the ball. She played good defense. I thought Celeste played really great minutes too… I would say like, for us, it definitely started on the defensive end. We could all feel that.”
Berger, in her second season, was upgraded from 12½ minutes in the preseason opener at Dallas to close to 20 versus the Dream Thursday. If and when Mitchell and Wheeler return, it will likely limit Berger’s minutes and any possibilities of making it into the starting lineup. However, she won’t be in danger of the impending roster cuts to the team that are coming soon. Berger got her nickname as the floor general in college at Indiana under Teri Moren. She displayed her all-around value.
“She got us in an offense,” Sides said.
If Berger keeps up this form when needed, she can be an incredible asset off the bench for the Fever.
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