PHOENIX — When Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell walked out in teammate Erica Wheeler's jersey for WNBA's Kia Skills Challenge, it seemed like an homage to her stranded teammate.

Really, Mitchell just didn't have her regular Fever jersey with her at the All-Star festivities. Her jersey traveled back to Indianapolis on the team plane with the equipment managers after the Fever's game against Dallas on Wednesday, as she wasn't anticipating being a part of the challenge.

"I didn't have my jersey here, I was Erica today," Mitchell said.

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Wheeler was originally scheduled to be the Fever representative in the Skills Challenge at Footprint Center on Friday night. She didn't go to Phoenix with the Fever's three All-Stars (Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, and Caitlin Clark) for a variety of reasons: the charter flight the trio took from Dallas on Wednesday night was too small to fit another person, and Wheeler was already scheduled to be in Atlanta for the opening of her restaurant, Cliche Wine Bar, on Thursday night.

So, Wheeler scheduled a flight from Atlanta to Phoenix for Friday morning with plans to make it in time for the competition. But the global Crowdstrike outage interrupted multiple major airlines, including Wheeler's Delta flight, which was delayed and then cancelled.

"As you guys know, my flight was canceled," Wheeler said in a video posted to the WNBA's X page. "I will not be at the WNBA All-Star Skills Challenge. My feelings is hurt, my feelings hurt! I really wanted to be there, I felt it was going to be a great experience."

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So, Mitchell stepped in.

Mitchell had minimal practice heading into the challenge and didn't advance out of the first round.

"I was excited that I did it," Mitchell said afterward. "I was originally going to tell them, just, 'I can't do this,' but I was happy I got there on behalf of (Wheeler) and the organization. My pass could've been a little better, but you know, you got there, you try it, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work."

The Mercury's Sophie Cunningham and the Dream's Allisha Gray ended up being the two to participate in the finals, and Gray won the contest by mere seconds. With that win came a $55,000 check from Aflac as part of the company's partnership with the WNBPA, as well as $2,575 from the league.

The $55,000 prize is new this year, and Mitchell was itching to win the prize. She still would've split it with Wheeler, too.

"I hate that we didn't win the $55,000," Mitchell said, laughing. "... of course you gotta break bread with your people."

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Kelsey Mitchell fills in for Erica Wheeler in WNBA Skills Challenge