Liberty Lose Outdoor Classic

The first ever indoor football game was played 76 years ago in a venue comparable in size to Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the 1932 NFL Championship at Chicago Stadium, a hockey rink.

Three quarters of a century later, the WNBA presented the first ever outdoor professional basketball game, however this time the home team wasn't able to defend their makeshift stomping grounds. The New York Liberty (12-10) fell to the Indiana Fever 71-55 at the Queens edifice named for Ashe and famous for hosting the U.S. Open annually.

Temperatures were in the upper-80's. Attendance was nearly 20,000 (19,393). Fans were even more rabid than usual. Pink Outdoor Classic souvenir t-shirts (and more of them than the usual type) were tossed all over the stadium by Liberty mascot Maddie and her many Lil' Torch friends.

Yet none of it distracted Indiana native Katie Douglas from finishing with a game-high 20 points. She also collected 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

"To come in and get a convincing win feels very good," says Douglas, the 6-foot guard out of Purdue. "All summer long everybody was talking about this game."

Douglas says the win is even more special thanks to the contest's historic ramifications.

"There was a lot of hype, a lot of anticipation leading up to this game," Douglas adds. "Hopefully we can enjoy this win and build from it."

How The Game Went

The lead did not change hands once. Following a special pre-game presentation honoring breast cancer survivors (including more of the aforementioned pink tees), tip-off occurred with plenty of daylight still filling the Queens sky. The Fever (11-11) jumped in front, and never looked back.

Beijing-bound olympian Tamika Catchings was second in point totals, swooshing 15 and grabbing a game-high 9 rebounds.

"We talk so many times about effort, about defensive intensity, about the things that we need to do to get wins," says 'Catch,' who played 33:05 worth of the 40-minute contest despite both head coaches promising faster, shorter rotations due to the heat. "Tonight it really feels like all of us got into it and we played really well," Catchings adds.

Just days before the event, the Fever held an outdoor practice in Indianapolis to emulate conditions expected for the game. Catchings says not only was it hotter there than it was in New York, but the practice helped gear her and teammates up for the Outdoor Classic.

"The environment here was awesome, "Catch" adds. "The fans that came out...everyone was having a good time."

Liberty players may not agree. They trailed by as many as 19, and shot only 28.6 percent from the field, compared with 47.3 for Indiana. Their top scorer, center Janel McCarville recorded 10 points, four of them free throws. The home crowd was more than audibly pushing behind the team, but it just wasn't enough.

"It was a good experience overall," says a dejected McCarville. "Hopefully we'll get to do it again next year and it'll be a better outcome."

New York head coach Pat Coyle agrees, saying despite the result, the night was one to be remembered.

"Just to be part of history - when in your lifetime do you get that chance or that opportunity?" Coyle asks rhetorically. "Most of these kids have grown up playing outdoors. It's old school. We were going back to the playgrounds! Basketball's meant to be played outside."

Looking Ahead

Fourth-place Indiana now heads to Chicago for a Tuesday rendezvous with the Sky, and the Liberty, currently third in the eastern conference, head to Washington to play the Mystics on Wednesday.

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