Jessica Shepard’s triple-double powers Lynx past Fever to end two-game losing streak

Jessica Shepard is in her fifth season with the Lynx after missing the 2024 because of her commitments to her Italian club.

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve told reporters before Friday’s game in Indianapolis that Shepard has been invaluable to the team this season.

“Jess has filled in,” Reeve said. “If Jessica is not a Lynx this year we’d be in trouble.”

That was on display Friday night as Shepard recorded the second triple-double in franchise history, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to rally the Lynx to a 95-90 victory over the Indiana Fever.

The Lynx, who trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, outscored the Fever 32-17 in the third quarter to take control and held on to end their first two-game losing streak of the season.

“She played 40 minutes,” Reeve said of Shepard in her postgame news conference. “Couldn’t take her off the floor. It was what the group needed, especially without Napheesa [Collier].”

Said Shepard, who shot 10-for-11 from the floor and matched her career high for scoring: “I was just trying to do whatever it took for our team to win coming off two losses.”

Moriah Jefferson had the only other Lynx triple-double, with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in June 2022.

Shepard was one rebound shy of a triple-double before halftime as she helped the Lynx stay close to Indiana. She scored 10 points in the first quarter as the Lynx, who trailed by as many as nine in the quarter, as the Lynx got within 27-22 after the first 10 minutes.

The Fever opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run to open a 12-point lead. They led by 10 with six minutes left in the half, but the Lynx put together a 17-7 run to tie score 50-50 with one minute left in the half. Lexi Hull scored her 18th point of the half to give the Fever a 52-50 halftime lead.

McBride scored 14 of her 16 first-half points in the second quarter and Shepard had 11 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

After McBride scored the first basket of the second half to tie the game, Shepard scored to put the Lynx up 54-52 — their first lead of the game. Those two baskets started a 13-4 run for the Lynx which gave the Lynx a 63-56 lead. The Fever didn’t get closer than six the rest of the quarter as the Lynx, who were 13 of 16 from the field in the quarter, took a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter.

After the four-point loss to the Dream on Thursday, Reeve had said the Lynx starters had played well, but they didn’t get much production from the bench. Bench produced only 11 points on Thursday. The Lynx bench scored 20 points in the first half Friday including 10 points from Natisha Hiedeman and outscored the Fever bench 27-13 for the game as Hiedeman finished with 17 points.

The Lynx, who had 18 turnovers on Thursday, had eight on Friday.

Kelsey Mitchell, in her eighth WNBA season and tied for third in the league in scoring at 20.4 points per game, led the Fever with 27 points. Hull scored 23 and Boston added 15 points.

BOXSCORE: Lynx 95, Indiana 90

WNBA standings

The Lynx avenged a 74-59 loss to Indiana on July 1 at Target Center in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup game, a game that does not count in the regular-season standings.