Kara Lawson helps Sun beat Fever

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kara Lawson scored 18 points to help the Connecticut Sun beat Indiana 89-81 on Friday night, while WNBA MVP Tamika Catchings missed part of the third quarter after she was accidentally elbowed in the face by Fever teammate Tammy Sutton-Brown.

Catchings left the game with 6:58 left in the third quarter. She went to the locker room with a towel over her face and had a bandage on her lower lip when she returned at the 3:38 mark of the quarter.

The Sun (5-1) went on an 8-0 run with Catchings out.

"I don't think there was any doubt that that knocked us back," Fever coach Lin Dunn said. "When you've got your franchise player basically carried out ... I think that shook us a little bit. Yeah, that was a factor."

Catchings finished with a season-high 31 points for the Fever (4-2).

"Obviously, when she went down, everybody was kind of stunned," Fever player Katie Douglas said. "It kind of rattled us a little bit mentally."

Tina Charles added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Sun, and Asjha Jones had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

"First off, road wins are hard to come by," Lawson said. "We sustained their run in the fourth quarter and kept our turnovers down. We kept our composure which allowed us to win."

Catchings and Douglas combined for a 9-0 to give Indiana a 79-78 lead with 3:12 left in the game.

Connecticut closed the game with an 11-2 run.

"I thought we played hard in spurts," Dunn said. "I don't know why that's happening."