SAN FRANCISCO – Stephanie White, coach of the Indiana Fever, will not be present at Thursday’s game against the Golden State Valkyries due to a personal matter, according to the team. The duration of White’s absence was not specified. Assistant coach Austin Kelly will take over as interim head coach. Kelly, who has worked with White since his time with the Connecticut Sun, also coached the team on June 7. “It will be the same. I think we are an extension of each other,” Kelly said after Thursday’s training. “The message remains the same as we talked about in the locker room: play for each other, do well on defense and let that drive us on offense. But the atmosphere is good.” In her first season with the Fever, White led Indiana to a 6-5 start and the Commissioner’s Cup final. The Fever are in the middle of a five-game stretch in eight days, which includes a three-game road trip on the West Coast, a back-to-back matchup against the Los Angeles Sparks and then against the Dallas Wings. Kelly stated that the priority during this period is to manage the minutes of all players.
“We’re trying to manage everything within the game and then we’ll demand a lot from them to get treatment between games,” Kelly said. “We’re here in Las Vegas, Seattle, and then back home. It’s about us doing our job on the court, first and foremost, and looking for opportunities during the game to manage those minutes.”
Austin Kelly
