At the moment, Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White is with Team USA in Berlin, Germany, for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. She is part of the coaching staff under head coach Kara Lawson. Fever stars Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston are also with the national team as they seek to secure a fifth straight World Cup title.
White left the Fever in good hands, though. Before parting ways with the team, she revealed that assistant coaches Briann January and Austin Kelly will be in charge. After a brief break, the team will return to practice in preparation for the season’s resumption on Sept. 17.
Indiana entered the World Cup break on a high, winning seven out of their last nine games. They are currently 26-14 and fifth in the WNBA standings.
One of the major changes White implemented of late was inserting second-year forward-center Makayla Timpson into the starting lineup. Timpson responded by providing a boost for the squad.
The former Florida State standout has scored in double figures in five of the last six games, including a career-high 20-point eruption against the Atlanta Dream on Aug. 16.
In a recent article published on the Fever’s official website, White addressed her decision to promote Timpson to the starting lineup.
“She has been a star in her role,” White said. “She’s continued to earn the opportunities that she’s gotten. She does not try to play outside of herself. She does everything that we ask her to do every single day, and when you have a big three like we have, having those types of players around them is really important.”
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Timpson is averaging 5.5 points and 4.9 rebounds in 19.2 minutes this season. However, over the last nine games since joining the starting five, she has put up 10.0 points on 69.0% shooting and 7.0 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per contest.
White also had some high praise for Timpson’s attitude off the court.
“KK is just a joy to be around,” White said. “Number one, great human being, the best hugger ever…She brings a youthful exuberance in a different way…She’s somebody who allows us to not take everything so seriously, helps us with that. She’s grown in leaps and bounds.
“You know, we do have some tightly wound folks too, and so when you have somebody that can just come in and sort of put a smile on your face, it means a lot. And KK is one of those guys.”
The Fever have four games left in the regular season as they battle for positioning heading into the playoffs. At this point, all signs are pointing to Timpson keeping her job as a starter.
Meanwhile, White and Team USA will kick off their World Cup campaign on Friday. They will face off against China, with tipoff scheduled for 8:15 a.m. ET.
