Fever clinch playoff birth

Reserve Tamika Whitmore scored 16 points to help the Indiana Fever beat the Sacramento Monarchs 63-55 and clinch a playoff berth on Sunday night in Indianapolis.

Tan White added 14 points for the Fever, who reached postseason play for the third straight year by bouncing back from an 84-59 loss to Connecticut on Saturday night.

Yolanda Griffith scored 11 points and Chelsea Newton added 10 for the Monarchs, who missed a chance to clinch a Western Conference playoff berth.

Indiana allowed its lowest point total of the season and held Sacramento to 30 percent shooting from the field, also a season-best defensive effort for the Fever.

Mystics 71, Sky 66: At Washington, Delisha Milton-Jones had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Mystics held on for a victory over Chicago that moved the Mystics ahead of the Sky in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Washington’s 69-56 lead shrank to five points in a minute-and-a-half stretch late in the fourth quarter. But Chicago went the last two minutes of the game with just one basket and Coco Miller hit two free-throws with 4.6 seconds left to put the Mystics a game ahead of the Sky with two weeks left in the regular season.

Alana Beard added 18 points for Washington and Miller had 16.