The Indiana Fever fought till the very end in an epic Game 5 that concluded their WNBA semifinal series against the Las Vegas Aces. What turned out to be a 107-98 defeat in the end came after the Fever forced overtime despite the portfolio of setbacks they had to deal with.
And Lexie Hull, who finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists, seemed proud of how her team responded.
“That's what Steph said in the huddle, ‘We're built for this moment,' when Kelsey went down and then when we were challenging the call on [Boston]. We've been here before, so it's just so unlucky, so crazy, that that had to happen tonight,” she said, referencing the fifth foul by Aliyah Boston that saw her foul out with 26.4 seconds remaining in regulation, per ESPN.
“The Aces are a great team, and for us to be able to put out the performance we did tonight and send it to overtime, that's something to be proud of,” Hull continued.
Of course, the bigger setback came earlier in the third quarter when Kelsey Mitchell was ruled out after experiencing cramping and being rushed to the hospital to receive fluids. The 29-year-old combo guard was leading Indiana with 15 points, going 3-on-3 from beyond the arc and 4-on-8 overall.
The Fever still came back from the third quarter with an eight-point deficit. However, they rallied back in the fourth, with Odyssey Sims producing 10 points and Boston scoring four.
Indiana finally gave way in overtime, where Chelsea Gray took charge with eight points while Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young added five and four, respectively. Still, as Hull proclaimed, the Fever have every right to be proud of their campaign.
They were without big stars already, with Damiris Dantas joining the likes of Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham before the game, and suffered further injuries that effectively allowed the Aces to outlast them.
