by Daniel Olinger
Grace Berger is the all-time winningest player in the history of Indiana women’s basketball, and she did some more winning on Thursday night.
The rookie guard scored 14 points in the Indiana Fever’s 90-86 win over the Seattle Storm, as she finished with the third most points of any player on her team. Berger also tallied four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in her stellar performance off the bench.
Berger didn’t quite match her WNBA career high of 15 points, but unlike that game, she put forth an extremely efficient effort. The former Indiana Hoosier finished 6-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from three.
After being much more of a midrange shooter during her collegiate career, Berger is shooting a ludicrous 48.3% from three during her rookie season in the WNBA. Even on her limited volume of attempts (just 14-for-29 in 30 games played), that’s a wildly impressive shooting split.
“I feel great. Every win in the WNBA is hard,” Berger said after the win. “So any time we can get a win, y’know, we all showed up and played a good team game on both sides of the ball, so it’s exciting.”
Berger is still just a substitute for the Indiana Fever, but has gradually grown into a bigger role as the season has progressed.
During the first 19 games of the WNBA season, Berger only played more than 10 minutes in a game three times, and four times she didn’t see the court at all.
But following that 15-point performance against the New York Liberty on July 12 right before the All Star break, she’s burst onto the scene for the Fever. Over the past 15 games, Berger has only played fewer than 10 minutes in a a Fever game once, and has averaged 19.3 minutes per game in total during that stretch.
As Berger said immediately following the game, she was more focused on the team win than anything else. The Fever are near the bottom of the WNBA, with a record of 10-24 and just six games remaining in the 2023 regular season. However, the Thursday night win spurred by Berger’s big performance did vault them over both the Storm and the Phoenix Mercury, and into 10th place of the standings.
Few things have gone right for the young team in terms of game-by-game success, but the future looks bright. No. 1 overall pick from the 2023 WNBA draft Aliyah Boston is already a superstar, and the No. 7 pick Berger out of Indiana has grown into a key contributor for the Fever steadily throughout the season.
Berger has been playing basketball in the state of Indiana for a long, long time. And with how well she’s been doing lately, it’s going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Originally posted on msn.com