Grace Berger flashed her versatile skillset and team-first attitude as she ‘stabilized’ Indiana Fever in win

Grace Berger felt a different kind of comfort heading into year two with the Indiana Fever — comfort in her role, expectations and her ability. During Thursday’s preseason finale, all three aspects shined as she stepped up when the Fever needed her helping lead them to an 83-80 win.

As the Fever saw the score blossom to a 14-point deficit early in the second quarter, Berger entered the game. At that time, it was 40-26 in favor of the Atlanta Dream at the 7:39 mark. By the time Berger left floor at halftime, it was 49-48 Dream.

Berger’s play sparked a 22-9 run.

“We can play — anyone can take the ball up the floor and when Caitlin is out there she always draws so much attention. Grace is able to — she’s a great passer and able to see the floor and find the open players … Grace had some good moments tonight,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said postgame. “She got us in our offense and put Caitlin off the ball a bit to give her a little blow. She did a really good job with getting us in whatever we were going to run, pushing when we wanted to push and she talked more tonight, I was really impressed with that.”

The immediate results of Grace Berger’s entrance into the game came on the first three possessions where she led a 7-0 run for the Fever, assisting on all three made baskets.

In total, she either scored or assisted on 19 of the 22 points to close out the half.

“She came in and pushed when we needed to push. She kicked ahead. She got us into an offense,” Sides added. “… she came out there and she stabilized us. She got us into some offense and we got good looks off it.”

In total, Grace Berger finished with six points on 3-of-4 from the field, five rebounds and seven assists. She was a team-high +16 in 19 minutes of action.

“As someone coming off the bench, it’s good that I get to kind of analyze the start of the game and can see what my team needs. Then, hopefully I can come in and meet that need in any way I can,” Berger said. “Whether that’s rebounding, defense, running the team. Really anything that I can do to provide that spark off the bench.”

“Grace came in and was a plus 16, and had seven assists. She was really great,” Caitlin Clark said. “She handled the ball and played great defense for us.”

Berger played multiple different positions for the Fever all night. She started at point guard, then moved off the ball but still in the backcourt. She then moved more off the ball on the perimeter in a three-guard lineup.

Her versatility and skillset is a welcomed need for the Fever who now have a lot of potential lineup options, especially in the backcourt to coincide with Clark.

“That’s Grace having to learn the point position, the wing — could be 2 or 3 depending on who is out there,” Sides said.

While Thursday was just a preseason game, it was a near sellout. Now, with the preseason wrapped up, the real stuff starts on Tuesday against the Connecticut Sun on the road. Despite five of the first seven games on the road for the Fever, the home crowd will be patiently — or not so patiently — waiting until the Fever return home.