INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever felt like they were on the top of the world Saturday as they picked up their first win over the league-leading New York Liberty.

They had lost to the Liberty three times already in 2024, and powered a 12-point comeback to take down the WNBA's top team. It firmed up the Fever's playoff push and provided a signature win.

On Wednesday, reality set in as the Fever's sluggish start in a noon game handed them a 89-84 loss to the Washington Mystics (6-17) — a team at the bottom of the standings they had beaten twice before.

Why more Fever lineup changes? 'A coach’s decision and we’re just gonna leave it at that.'

Takeaways: Caitlin Clark stuffs stat sheet, but Fever rally falls short vs. Mystics

Experimenting with a new starting lineup which put Lexie Hull at the 3, Katie Lou Samuelson at the 4 and NaLyssa Smith on the bench, the Fever turned the ball over eight times and gave up two offensive rebounds in the first 10 minutes, giving the Mystics 24 shot attempts to the Fever's 12.

"I started off the game with three quick turnovers myself, and I take pride in trying to not turn the ball over and just be good with the ball," Samuelson said. "Just lost possessions right there, and that really was kind of the story of the game."

The Fever had, relatively, a good thing going with Smith, Samuelson, Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston in the starting lineup. That lineup picked up the biggest win of the season so far, and their first win over New York since 2022. Four of the five players were averaging double figures, and Smith had double-digit rebounding numbers each of the past three games.

So why take out Smith and put in Hull?

"It was a coach's decision, and I'm not gonna say any more about that," coach Christie Sides said postgame.

Hull was a big part of the Fever's win over the Liberty, playing the entire fourth quarter, scoring five points and producing a +/- of +6. She was known as a defensive stopper last season, always guarding the best offensive player, and she had that same form Saturday.

Smith has been struggling defensively, despite 11 rebounds against the Liberty, and her free-throw percentage is at just 57.1%. But with Temi Fagbenle out with a right thumb injury, the only other starting option at the 4 is Samuelson — who naturally plays the 3.

Samuelson can play anything from the 3 to the 5, but her time at the 4 has been sparse this season. So, it's a position she's not entirely comfortable with.

"I think the biggest thing is, defensively, just knowing how to guard, what our schemes are, and to be honest, making sure I know all the plays and all the positions," Samuelson said of the position change postgame. "I think for me, I'm trying to just be myself in each role that I'm put into and step up in any way I can."

It didn't help that Fever center Aliyah Boston was in foul trouble for nearly the entire game. She only played 10 minutes with three fouls in the first half, then picked up her fifth foul, forcing her to the bench, at the 4-minute mark of the third quarter. Boston's absence from the floor prevented her from getting into a flow; as she's such a big part of the offense. It affected the Fever's flow, too. From when Boston sat down in the third to the end of the quarter, the Fever's deficit went from 14 points to 21.

Something changed, though, to start the fourth quarter. The lineup included Clark, Mitchell, Hull, Samuelson and Damiris Dantas, and they went on a 10-0 run to start the fourth. The Mystics got the lead back up to 15 by the time Boston and Smith checked in for Dantas and Samuelson, and that lineup — which included Clark, Mitchell and Hull — nearly completed a comeback in those final minutes.

Indiana got within three points with just a minute left, but a fadeaway jumper from Ariel Atkins then sealed the game. Still, the Fever outscored the Mystics 29-13 in the fourth quarter.

They need to take what they were doing in those final fourth-quarter minutes — the defensive intensity and rotations, and up-tempo pace on offense — and bottle it up. They need to find the rotations that work for the entire game (not just the later quarters) and stick with them to let the rotations jell.

"I just continue to encourage them to keep fighting, keep playing," Sides said of what they can take from the fourth-quarter turnaround. "We have the ability to put a lot of points on the board really fast, kind of play fast, get good looks,"

Indiana only has a one-day turnaround before playing Phoenix (11-10), a team they beat less than two weeks ago, at home. It's a quick turnaround, both mentally and physically, especially after a letdown loss.

"This league is very good overall," Samuelson said. "There's only 12 teams, and so every single team is a good team. So, you know, we should have started off better and should have taken care of what we needed to take care of. But we have another game on Friday, we have another chance. We can take everything we learned from here, things we learned from the last time we played Phoenix, and just be ready to go and be better."

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

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How can Indiana Fever bounce back from letdown loss to Mystics?