The Wings beat the Fever 81–80 on Tuesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Fever were down 17 with less than seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but made a frantic comeback and had a chance to win the game in the final seconds.
Things did not go well from there.
Indiana forward Natasha Howard rebounded a Paige Bueckers miss with 12 seconds remaining in the game. Rather than immediately get the ball to a guard, she dribbled up the court before she got the ball to Kelsey Mitchell with about seven seconds left on the clock. Mitchell had trouble shaking her defender and ended up taking a fadeaway as coach Stephanie White finally called a timeout with 1.7 seconds remaining.
Last minute of the Fever-Wings game. Howard shouldve got it to Kelsey asap.
— AK (@Sudharsan_AK10) August 13, 2025
What else shouldve happened there???? pic.twitter.com/lIdq9DE5u8
Coming out of the timeout the Fever inbounded the ball to Mitchell as she ran into the corner to take a tightly contested shot that hit the top corner of the backboard.
Kelsey Mitchell : 24 points on 7-15 shooting, 4-7 from 3, 6-7 from the FT line & 6 rebounds in 36 minutes (Missed the potential game-winning jumper off the side of the backboard at the buzzer) pic.twitter.com/IPea9FJfAM
— Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) August 13, 2025
No coach or player is going to like reliving this final sequence in the film room tomorrow. Mitchell will be frustrated, as she could have gotten a better look before the timeout and White will wonder why she didn't call one sooner.
With the loss the Fever have fallen to sixth place in the WNBA standings.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fever Coach Stephanie White Did Not Make Good Use of Final Timeout in Loss vs. Wings.
