The Indiana Fever are now 4-4 this season after two consecutive defeats. Their head coach, Stephanie White, convened a 90-minute meeting on Monday to address the Indiana Fever's recent struggles.

White pushed her players to take ownership and prioritize team success following a disappointing road trip.

“We want this to be a player-led team,” Stephanie White said in a clip shared by James Boyd on X.

“We want them to be empowered to take ownership, be empowered to have hard conversations, be empowered to uplift one another, be empowered to give up self for team, put the we over me.”

Her frustrations reached a breaking point after Indiana's 100-84 loss to Portland. The Fever started the game strong, opening on an 8-2 run in the first three minutes.

However, things quickly unraveled. Indiana failed to make another field goal for the rest of the first quarter. Meanwhile, Portland closed the period on a 27-7 run.

Portland continued to pull away after halftime. They scored 37 points in the third quarter. Then, the lead stretched to 25, a deficit the Fever could not overcome.

What made the loss even more frustrating was that it came just over a week after Indiana had beaten Portland 90-73 at home. Afterward, White suggested that communication issues were part of the problem.

"Some of the older ones in this group, oftentimes with young people, you don't really know how to articulate some of the things that are happening."

Still, this is a group that has already overcome significant challenges together.

Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Cunningham, Aliyah Boston, Lexie Hull, Makayla Timpson, and Damiris Dantas were all part of a team that dealt with six season-ending injuries. Despite that, they still pushed the eventual champions to overtime in a decisive Game 5 of the WNBA semifinals last season.

Because of that history, White believes the Fever can find their way through another difficult stretch.

The Fever set up the meeting to regroup ahead of their next game against the Atlanta Dream. Most importantly, the players appeared fully on board with the approach.

Kelsey Mitchell Reveals Biggest Lesson From Fever Meeting

The meeting appears to have had the desired effect. Sophie Cunningham said the team needed a chance to reset after the disappointing loss to Portland.

"It was much needed," Sophie said. "After Portland, that's not it. We can't be playing like that. We're too good, so we needed that meeting. Everybody is refreshed and ready to get going."

Kelsey Mitchell shared a similar perspective. The veteran guard said the conversation forced the team to take an honest look at where it stands after a difficult weekend.

"I think I took away from it as having more grace," Mitchell said. "You thought you had made certain steps as a group, and then you get punched in the face this past weekend. You get battle-tested to figure out where you truly are. I think that's the takeaway, to really recognize and be honest about where our group is and make the changes necessary to be great."

With the Commissioner's Cup beginning this week, Indiana will look to turn the lessons from its team meeting into better communication on the court.

Do you think the meeting will help them come back to winning ways? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Sauramita Debbarma

Edited by

Koushik Biswas