• Natasha Howard was named Commissioner’s Cup championship game MVP, scoring 16 points with 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
• Caitlin Clark missed her third straight game with a groin strain, but was particularly helpful in the postgame celebrations.

MINNEAPOLIS – Sydney Colson was seemingly in the clear.

The Indiana Fever guard emerged from the visitors’ locker room mostly dry, the only evidence of the celebration raging behind her being the drops of champagne on her oversized ski goggles and the shoulders of her Commissioner’s Cup champion T-shirt. 

“Caitlin Clark‘s in there, biting all the bottles for everybody — biting through cans and (stuff), but it was fun,” Colson said of the scene inside the victorious room. “I’m not a drinker, I don’t know how to do champagne celebrations, but they were opening them; the coaches were having a good time chugging out of the Commissioner’s Cup — it was fun. It was a good time.”

The Fever signed Colson, in part, for moments like this. A 10-year veteran and two-time WNBA champion, she brings the experience and winning pedigree often necessary to help elevate building teams like Indiana to that next level. And though Tuesday’s 74-59 win over the Minnesota Lynx was not for the ultimate prize, it was an elimination game on the road against the league’s best team; the closest approximation to a playoff game this team will experience until the fall.

“I made it clear (before the game) we need to have a turning point in our season,” Colson said. 

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“We’re trying to find our identity,” she continued, citing the team’s inconsistencies from game to game. “I said, no one’s expecting us to win, so we’re going to be able to play free. Let’s go out there, execute on both ends and have confidence, believe we can do this on their home court. And I think we all played like we knew we could. Hopefully this mentality carries.”

As Colson continued fielding questions, three of her teammates — Clark, Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull — set a trap for her inside the locker room entrance, occasionally peeking out to make sure she hadn’t gotten away.

What are you doing with your share of the $500,000 prize pool for winning the Commissioner’s Cup?

“Oh my God, you’re so nosy,” Colson joked.

And with that, she turned heel and returned to the locker room … where she was immediately ambushed by Clark, Cunningham and Hull, the three spraying her with champagne, then emptying their bottles over her head. 

“We love you, Syd!” Cunningham called out as she shook out the final drops of alcohol.

“It’s fun,” Hull said of the celebration. “We worked really hard to get here and I’m happy we’re able to celebrate that win together in a room like that.”

Those scenes and emotions inside the visitors’ locker room were certainly well-deserved. 

Staring down a Western Conference behemoth in the Lynx and without Clark for a third consecutive game, the Fever shook off a wobbly first quarter to put together their most complete performance of the season and in doing so, secured their most impressive win of the year.

The defense looked a step slow in the first quarter, struggling to keep up with a Minnesota offense that created traffic with a series of screens and player movement on each possession to find (or create) an open look. It was artistry in motion and snowballed into a 13-point lead with 8:13 left in the second quarter.

The Fever (8-8) did not allow another basket until the opening seconds of the third.

“We were more disruptive. We were in passing lanes. We didn’t allow them to just pass the ball (and) we made their movement a little more difficult,” coach Stephanie White said in her postgame news conference. “We made their movement a little more difficult, because of our positioning. Our point of attack on ball screen defense was better.”

The Fever’s intensity was better, as was their attention to detail, White continued.

Everyone was flying around and they were helping each other on the defensive side, Hull added. The Lynx would try their slips and rolls and the Fever had someone there, ready to intercept.

Minnesota (14-2) entered Tuesday averaging 85.3 points and shooting 47% from the field. It struggled to reach its season-low 59 points against Indiana and shot a woeful 34.9%.

“It’s what we’re capable of doing and we did it consistently for three quarters,” White said. “That’s what it’s going to take for us.”

The offense did what it’s done all season, particularly over this most recent stretch, with a variety of players stepping up in the absence of Clark. Aliyah Boston collected 12 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Sophie Cunningham tallied 13 points and seven rebounds, and Kelsey Mitchell and Aari McDonald dropped a dozen points apiece. 

But how about Natasha Howard? Another offseason addition who brings that winning pedigree — she won two conference championships and a WNBA title in her two seasons in Minnesota (2016-17) — she earned game MVP honors after contributing 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting (8-for-8 free throws), 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals. 

Howard kickstarted the Fever offense in the second quarter, ending a four-and-a-half-minute scoring drought with a couple assists, then helped the visitors maintain control through the third, totaling 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting as the margin reached as many as 14.

Of note, Howard scored 13 points vs. Los Angeles two games ago, then went for 15 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three steals last week vs. Dallas. 

“Tash flies under the radar,” Mitchell said. “Not a lot of people respect what she does and brings to the table. She’s won at every level and I think we have to give her flowers a little bit more.”

“We did whatever we needed to do to make the play down the stretch tonight, and down the stretch, that was with Tash. It was her game and it was our role to make sure she got what she needed.” 

Most important to Tuesday’s win, the Fever finally displayed that killer instinct, refusing to allow Minnesota even the opportunity to get back into the game. 

The Target Center crowd roared back to life as the home team clawed back to within seven and forced a timeout early in the fourth quarter. Indiana retaliated immediately with two baskets by Boston and another by McDonald.

“We’ve run into some fourth quarters where we’re ahead then we let the other team crawl back into it,” Hull said. “We’ve worked in practice, going over that situation and making sure we’re not playing not to lose and are instead continuing to build on that lead.” 

The Lynx used last year’s Commissioner’s Cup championship run as a launching point for their season, the foundation of belief for that group on their way to another conference championship. 

Now the Fever have the same opportunity.

“We need this mindset to fuel us forward,” Colson said. “The rankings will take care of themselves. We know we’re a capable team, we just have to show it consistently.”

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter.