Stinson Leads Charlotte to First Win

Sting 66, Fever 57

CHARLOTTE, May 29 -- Andrea Stinson scored 13 points and Tammy Sutton-Brown added 11 to lead the Charlotte Sting to its first win of the season, 66-57, over the Indiana Fever tonight.

The Sting, 74-70 losers to Washington in last week's season opener, gave first-year coach Trudi Lacey a victory in just her second game.

"I think Trudi has been really concentrating on our defensive effort," Charlotte guard Dawn Staley said. "If we need a bucket, we're a team that has been together a long time and that part comes easy. But you win games with defense and that's what she's working on."

Tamika Catchings, the WNBA rookie of the year last season, scored 19 points to lead Indiana in its season opener. Natalie Williams and Nikki McCray added 11 points each.

Charlotte never trailed, taking a 9-2 lead. Stinson scored the Sting's first seven points on a layup, a running jumper, a free throw and another jumper.

Indiana had to play catch-up from there, falling behind 31-25 at halftime.

The Fever cut it to 36-34 on Natalie Williams's layup with 15 minutes 46 seconds to play, but the Sting responded with a 10-2 run to retake control.

Charlotte held Indiana to 33 percent shooting, forced 16 turnovers and had 6 steals and 6 blocked shots.

Charlotte shot 47 percent against Indiana, 10 percentage points better than in the season opener. But the Sting struggled from three-point range, hitting just 2 of 8 attempts.