SEATTLE - Sue Bird scored 16 points, and Janell Burse added 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks on Saturday night, leading the Seattle Storm to a 74-60 victory against the WNBA-leading Indiana Fever.
Indiana (19-7) fell short for the second straight game of becoming the first team to clinch a playoff berth. The Fever dropped a 67-62 decision at Sacramento on Thursday.
Seattle (15-11) had six players score in double figures, including all five starters. Tanisha Wright had 12 points, Lauren Jackson and Swin Cash added 11 apiece, and Camile Little 10.
Katie Douglas led Indiana with 12 points, but was kept six points below her team-leading average. Tamika Catchings added 11 points for the Fever.
The Storm went on a 21-4 run during the final 6:02 of the first half to take a 37-25 lead at the break, and they never trailed again. Six players scored for Seattle during that surge, which was capped by Cash's 3-pointer with 2 seconds left in the half.
Indiana climbed back into the game late in the third quarter, using a 13-4 run to trim the Storm's lead to 54-46. But Burse scored on a fastbreak and made it a three-point play with 1.5 seconds left in the third, pushing Seattle's lead to 57-46.
The Fever never got closer than nine points in the fourth.
Cash fell one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with nine. Jackson pulled down eight boards for the Storm. Catchings and Ebony Hoffman had seven rebounds apiece for Indiana.
The Fever beat Seattle in Indianapolis earlier in the season, 73-66, the first game of an 11-game winning streak that carried them to the top of the league.
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