SEATTLE – Sophie Cunningham said it herself: This game probably wouldn’t have resulted in a Fever win if it happened just one or two months ago.

Indiana fended off a late 11-0 run from Seattle in the final minutes of the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon, leaving Climate Pledge Arena with a gutsy, 78-74 win.

Indiana (17-12) led by 12 points with just under five minutes remaining in the game, but that surge from Seattle, which included possessions with multiple Storm offensive rebounds, got them within one point with less than a minute left.

Kelsey Mitchell then created some minimal, but crucial separation with a jump shot, putting the Fever’s lead up to three points. And Seattle (16-13) proceeded to miss six of its next seven shots and fouled Aliyah Boston with two seconds left, allowing Indiana to walk away with a four-point win.

The Fever cracked, but they didn’t crumble.

“It shows the growth that we’ve had as a team, because early in the season, we were just so inconsistent, and if teams were to do that, we would normally lose those games,” Cunningham said postgame. “But it just shows that we’re getting closer. We’re trusting each other. I think that’s the biggest part, is trusting and knowing that we can win those games, even if they go on runs.”

Maintaining second-half leads was an issue for the Fever throughout June and July; on their last West Coast road trip, a 13-point third quarter lead turned into an 11-point loss to Golden State, then a double-digit lead over Las Vegas turned into an eight-point loss. It continued at home, when a 10-point lead over Los Angeles at the beginning of the fourth quarter turned into a 10-point loss on June 26.

Earlier in the season, the Fever were collapsing in the face of runs from opponents. It didn’t matter the record of those opponents, if the games were considered winnable, or how the two stacked up on paper. Indiana couldn’t stand tall in those instances when momentum switched.

Now, they’re able to swing the momentum back to their side.

“I think it says a lot,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “They know one another a little bit better now. We’re maturing and how we handle situations and how we handle runs. We stayed neutral. We didn’t get too high, we didn’t get too low… We stayed even, and we came down and we went to the next play. We made some big plays and had key moments that allowed us to win the ballgame.”

The Fever, who have the longest active winning streak in the league with five straight, are finding their stride at the right time. They are now firmly in fifth place in the WNBA standings, gaining a full game over Seattle after the two teams came in with identical records.

Indiana, now 2-0 in the three-game season series with Seattle, also clinched a crucial playoff tiebreaker with this win. If the two teams finish the regular season tied in the standings, Indiana will get the advantage in playoff seeding. Indiana also holds the tiebreaker over Atlanta, which is just one game ahead in the standings at 18-11.

It’s been a kind of renaissance for Indiana, which had a rocky start to the season. The Fever spent the entire first half of 2025 hovering around .500, never able to find a way to consistently stack days and games in a way to make meaningfully progress.

Now, at five games over .500 for the first time since 2015, the Fever have rocketed up the standings. Even with All-Star Caitlin Clark out with a groin injury, they’re starting to look like the contenders they were projected to be in the preseason.

“It’s about stacking the days,” Cunningham said. “And I think that where our mental is at, as a team and as individuals, we’re in a really good spot. It’s not going to be easy moving forward, but I think today, we stayed true to the scout. We trusted the offense…  I’m just proud of our team, and I’m proud that we stacked today.”

In this stretch, Fever players are finding themselves, figuring out how they can fit into the style White and her coaching staff want to run. They’re realizing any player at any time can step up, and it’s giving them confidence in how they’re able to play and how they’re able to handle big moments.

They’re growing and evolving, even with their best player on the bench for an unspecified amount of time.

And imagine what this team will be able to do when Clark, who missed her seventh straight game, is able to return.

“I think I said it early when C was out the very first time, you know while we don’t like (that she’s out), sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise, because everybody else finds themselves, right, and no one is afraid to make the big play offensively or defensively,” White said. “And so I think it’s just we got a really good group that’s unselfish, that want to win, that play well together and for each other. And when one person doesn’t have it, somebody else does. And I think it makes us really, really difficult to scout.”