“Of course we didn’t want to become the first team to lose to them,” Tan White said after she scored a season-high 21 points and led the Indiana Fever to a 76-67 win over the Dream on Friday night.

Atlanta is 0-9, the third-longest winless streak to open a WNBA season. The Houston Comets lost their first 10 games in 2007, and the Detroit Shock started 0-13 in 2002.

“We don’t even look at the record,” Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors said. “We look at the next opponent. We’re just trying to find the right chemistry, and I think I’ve found a pretty good lineup the last two games.”

Atlanta led by 12 points in the fourth quarter of an 81-77 loss to New York on Wednesday night before giving the Fever a late challenge on Friday.

“We’re seven and nine points away from a win and somehow we have to figure out a way to do that,” Meadors said.

White scored 11 points in the first half to reach double figures for a seventh straight game. Ebony Hoffman had 12 points, and Tammy Sutton-Brown added 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Indiana’s Katie Douglas third in the league in scoring at 20 points per game, had two in the first half and finished with 11. White took advantage of Atlanta’s extra defensive attention on Douglas.

“We were basically reading mismatches,” White said. “We knew we had smaller guards on us. When they doubled (Douglas), I was open on the other wing. They just did a great job of finding me and getting me the ball.”

The Fever expect to have five-time All-Star Tamika Catchings back for Sunday’s home game against the San Antonio Silver Stars. Catchings has been sidelined since tearing her right Achilles’ tendon in the playoffs last year.

Catchings has led Indiana in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in each of her six seasons, but White said the Fever should not expect that type of production immediately.

“We’re excited that she’s coming back, but we have to stick with how we’ve been playing,” White said. “She’ll be with us, but I’m not sure if she can come out and give us 20 or 30 minutes from the start. We can’t get out of what we’re doing. Hopefully after a few games or a couple of weeks she’ll be ready.”

Ivory Latta and Tamera Young each scored 14 points for Atlanta but combined to go 9-of-27 from the field. Latta tied her career high with six assists. Betty Lennox had 13 points.

A 3-pointer by White gave Indiana a 59-48 lead with 7:38 left, and a free throw by Douglas pushed the advantage to 15 before the Dream staged a late rally.

Atlanta’s Kristen Mann made a 3-pointer with 1:49 left, and Latta’s layup with 1:01 remaining pulled the Dream to 70-64 but that was as close as they would come.

The Dream’s 24 turnovers led to 21 points for Indiana.

Latta made buzzer-beating shots at the end of each of the first two periods, each requiring a video review by the officials. Latta’s turnaround jumper at the end of the first half cut Indiana’s lead to 32-29.

Young, a rookie, had career highs in points, assists (four), steals (four) and blocked shots (two).

Photo:>David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images

WNBA.com was able to catch up with Kristen Mann to chat about the up coming season and her move to the Atlanta Dream.

WNBA.com: what do you think about this new group? It seems like Coach Meadors has managed to put together a pretty good roster
KristenM: We are HUGE! haha
KristenM: I think it’s a very talented group though, and she did a great job making this team.
KristenM: It will only get better with the signing of free agents and incoming draft picks too. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how it all plays out.

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