Even before Grace Berger set foot in the WNBA, Indiana Fever veteran point guard Erica Wheeler knew the IU product would be an impactful pro.
That realization came in IU’s 87-78 win over then-No. 5 Iowa on Feb. 9, when Berger had 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting, nine rebounds and six assists.
“I was courtside, and she was having a crazy game,” Wheeler said. “I had no hesitation that she wouldn’t be good enough for this league. She’s definitely good enough.”
Berger stayed near her alma mater when the Fever drafted her with the seventh pick in April’s draft, just three weeks after her IU career ended.
But Berger doesn’t like to take time off, and her transition to the Fever was immediate.
“Grace Berger came in and worked her tail off from Day 1,” coach Christie Sides said. “She came in over a week early, put in the work, waited her turn, understood.”
But Berger needed to have patience. She was the only player on the Fever’s roster to not get in the game in the season-opener on May 19, and her minutes were limited in the front half of the season.
She kept practicing and training, waiting for the opportunity to come her way. Eventually, it did.
“You don’t know what you don’t know, coming in, so I was just bombarded with a lot of information,” Berger said. “New sets, new style of play, having to learn what coach Christie wants on the floor as the point guard, as the leader on the floor, so I think I have just grown in my confidence in that area, being able to know what she wants and execute it on the floor with my team.”
Berger worked her way into the Fever’s rotation, becoming an essential backup to Wheeler. She was usually first off the bench to take over for Wheeler, and she averaged over 21 minutes a game for the last 10 games of Indiana’s season.
“She has all the skills,” Wheeler said. “When her confidence is high, it’s a beautiful thing to see. Just to be a vet to see her walking in, a little nervous, asking all the questions, then almost just answering her own questions eventually, as a vet that always makes me happy.”
Berger wasn’t a prolific scorer with the Fever this season like she was at IU; she had five games where she scored over 10 points and just two games where she had 10 or more shot attempts. Despite the low attempts, she was efficient. She averaged 4.2 points per game, shooting 44% from the field and 47% from the 3-point line — leading all rookies beyond the arc.
Her late-season surge paid off, as she was named to the Associated Press All-Rookie team along with teammate and AP Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston on Tuesday. The Fever were one of two teams to have two players on the All-Rookie list, joining Dorka Juhasz and Diamond Miller from the playoff-bound Lynx.
Berger’s development isn’t over, though. She will head overseas to play in the Liga Femenina — Spain’s highest professional women’s basketball league — for the Gernika KESB.
“Grace is a player who can play in the three outside positions, very skilled in handling the ball with great vision and passing ability in addition to being a constant shooting threat,” Gernika KESB coach Mario Lopez said in a release translated from Spanish to English. “… In defense she has good use of her hands and is quick, as well as generous in her efforts.”
Originally posted on azcentral.com