INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell has embraced her role as a steadying influence this season and the team has benefited. After a 4-4 start, Mitchell calmly challenged teammates to improve defensively, put a higher priority on attention to detail and maintain their perspective for the long haul of the season.It worked, and now the four-time All-Star also has been a key player in the midseason turnaround that has Indiana re-emerging as a WNBA title contender.“Kelsey’s awesome,” All-Star center Aliyah Boston said after finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds in Sunday’s victory at defending champion Las Vegas. “She shows up every single day and gives us everything she has. She hoops out of her mind. She’s the fastest guard I’ve ever seen and for her to continue to do that and make teams guard her, she deserves the world.”Mitchell has done it before. Last year, she and Boston may have carried the injury-depleted Fever into the WNBA Finals — if not for Mitchell’s severe cramping in her lower body where her legs and feet went numb for about seven seconds during a Game 5 loss to the Aces in a WNBA semifinal.
This season, Mitchell is on pace for the best season of her nine-year career. She’s averaging 22.6 points while shooting 48.6% from the field and 41.6% from 3-point range — all career bests — and she’ll start next weekend at the All-Star Game in Chicago.
