The Fever have their hype woman, and the fans and team rallied around her to force decisive Game 3

INDIANAPOLIS — With five minutes left in the third quarter, the Atlanta Dream were starting to close in on the Indiana Fever. A layup from Naz Hillmon put Atlanta within three points, and the Fever needed the momentum to shift back to their fans.

It was the perfect job for Aerial Powers.

The Fever streaked down the court, Kelsey Mitchell gathering the ball for a 3-pointer. It bounced off the rim, but Powers grabbed the offensive rebound and went back up for a layup, drawing Hillmon’s fourth foul.

Powers, sitting on the ground after the foul, yelled in celebration. The crowd, following her lead, roared to their feet. 

She jumped up, slapping some of her teammates’ hands and chest-bumping others. She chest-bumped coach Stephanie White so hard that White’s glasses fell off.

“She does that every time,” White said to laughs from Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston following Indiana's 77-60 win. “And every time, I remember I’m not as young as I used to be.”

Powers has, in a way, taken over the hype woman duties since she signed with the Fever on Aug. 22. With Caitlin Clark on the sidelines for the season because of a right groin injury, Powers has been the one to hype up the crowd. She’s the one pumping her arms into the air to get the crowd into the game, screaming in celebration when she draws a foul or makes a tough shot.

That feeds into her teammates and the crowd itself.

“She feeds off so much energy, and she always has a lot of energy,” Boston said. “So I think for us, just making sure that we always match that, and I love when I see her hype up the crowd. Everyone gets involved. But I think AP, just what she brings to us, that aggression, just getting after loose balls, it’s great.”

That crowd, an announced 16,682 fans cheering at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, became a factor for the third-seeded Atlanta Dream. Atlanta got frustrated as its shots continued to miss, paired with the roar of the crowd as the Fever’s lead got larger and larger. Indiana went on a 7-0 run after Powers chest-bumped White, and the crowd stayed with every point — contributing to the Dream’s exasperation.

“They packed the house,” Dream coach Karl Smesko said. “They were really loud. That gives them homecourt advantage, but, I mean, that's going to be wherever we go. It's the playoffs. It's going to be packed. It's going to be loud. We got to play through anything that happens in the game, and we've been great on the road all season. Today was kind of just an off day.”

The momentum was squarely with Indiana for the rest of the game, as the Fever’s lead grew to 15 by the end of the third quarter. It was 23 at points in the fourth, and the game was all but decided with more than five minutes remaining in the fourth.

It was exactly the type of game Indiana needed to get its groove back. The Fever evened the series with the win Tuesday, and they will head back to Atlanta for a decisive Game 3 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday — one that will decide who will face Las Vegas or Seattle in the best-of-five WNBA semifinals.

And Indiana will have to bring that momentum from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd to Gateway Center in Atlanta.

“I think it will be a really good challenge for us,” Mitchell said. “Obviously we want to win the game, and they want to win the game, so I think somebody has to lose it and somebody has to win. But I think that we take tonight for what it is … it's a big opportunity tonight, but that you gotta let it be the moment and let it kind of fuel you for Thursday. But gotta move on.”

Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar's Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Aerial Powers: Indiana Fever hype woman, energy player; Kelsey Mitchell stars