INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Tamika Catchings scored 16 points in her final regular-season WNBA game and the Indiana Fever locked up the No. 5 playoff seed with 83-60 victory over the Dallas Wings on Sunday.
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“Catchings – 11-time WNBA All-Star, 4-time Olympic Gold Medalist, 5-time victor of the Defensive Player of the Year Award, and most importantly, 2012 WNBA Champion – walked onto a court surrounded by thousands of fans donning matching “#24Forever” t-shirts to show their respect, love, and admiration for one of the most well-revered players in WNBA history.
Catchings became the gold standard of the WNBA. Minnesota Lynx star Maya Moore laughed as she admitted to viewers in an interview before the game, that she “started wearing knee-pads because Tamika Catchings wore knee pads”. Krauskopf took her No. 3 overall in the 2001 draft even though she knew Catchings would miss that first season with a torn ACL.
As a player who has always gone above and beyond the call of duty and who has consistently given 110%, Catchings was in great company tonight with a team that did just the same. Coach White is taking over the Vanderbilt program and Catchings is retiring.
Catchings is second on the WNBA’s all-time scoring leaderboard behind Tina Thompson.
“Just to be able to celebrate a young person who has done it the right way, that’s what I’m excited about and really put God first”.
“I think they had an equal impact”.
Catchings, a 16-year veteran, will play her final regular-season game Sunday, Sept. 18 vs. the Dallas Wings.
Even with the Fever steadily pulling away in the second half, nobody left early. She played all of her 15 seasons with IN, finishing her WNBA career second IN points, first IN rebounds and first IN steals.
Karima Christmas led the Wings (11-23) with 12 points.
What was it that drove them to this incredible win? “It’s been a blessing to have all of you guys supporting me”. But at the same time, it’s bigger than basketball sometimes. “And “Catch” is just one of those awesome people where it just happens to be so”. IN plays against the Dallas Wings. There was not a dry eye from the Wings’ players nor the Fever as the exchange was made.
“She is unwavering in her passion, her love, her beliefs”, longtime teammate Briann January said.
(AP Photo/AJ Mast). FILE – In this October 9, 2015 file photo, Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings (24) drives the ball against Minnesota Lynx guard Seimone Augustus (33) in the first half of Game 3 of the WNBA Finals basketball series in Indianapolis. “Basketball is played in 214 countries and you have left an indelible fingerprint and dare I say footprint all over this game”.
She pretty much received everything.
“The thing I respect so much about her is her humility”. Catchings’ old teammates Jessica Davenport and Katie Douglas are on-hand along with her former coach, Lin Dunn, with whom she won the 2012 WNBA championship.
“As a teammate, you want to be better for her”, White said.
Inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse, so many more people are proud of the star. She’s a giver, and now it’s time that we all give a little something to her.
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The four-time Olympic gold medalist could have enjoyed a WNBA farewell tour in her final season, but instead turned it into a legacy tour in which she gave something back to her fans.
