Indiana Fever’s first-round playoff series set

WASHINGTON D.C. (WISH) — The Indiana Fever learned on Thursday night which team it will face in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs.

The Fever, which will enter the postseason as the No. 6 seed, will face the Connecticut Sun.

The Sun earned the No. 3 seed in the playoffs by beating the Chicago Sky 87-54 on Thursday night.

The Fever was 1-3 against the Sun during the regular season. Indiana was winless against Connecticut before beating the Sun 84-80 in late August inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse. That victory snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Sun.

Their first meeting this year was the Fever’s season opener back on May 14. The Sun won that matchup 92-71. After Thursday’s contest against the Mystics, Fever head coach Christie Sides reflected on what she told her team prior to facing the Sun in the opener.

“Their toughness and their physicality is what we had to be able to handle,” Sides said. “We didn’t do it that first time. And I think we’re better now with understanding what that’s going to feel like. They’re going to be tough. They know what it takes to play and to win in the playoffs. But we’re not the team that we were early. And we’ve been able to just keep getting better.”

The best-of-three playoff series will begin on Sunday. Here is a look at the series’ schedule:

• Sunday, Sept. 22: Fever at Sun – 3 p.m. EDT.
• Wednesday, Sept. 25: Fever at Sun – 7:30 p.m. EDT.
• Friday, Sept. 27: Sun at Fever – Time TBD (*If necessary).

The Fever lost 92-91 to the Washington Mystics on Thursday night in its regular season finale. Indiana entered the game knowing that the result would not impact its seeding for the postseason.

The game was played in front of a WNBA single-game record 20,711 fans.

Indiana finished the regular season with a 20-20 overall record, while Connecticut finished the regular season with a 28-12 overall record.

Sunday’s game will be Indiana’s first playoff game since 2016.