SEATTLE — The Indiana Fever survived a late run by the Seattle Storm on Sunday to hold on for a 78-74 win, extending their winning streak to five to match the longest by the Fever since August 2015, during coach Stephanie White’s previous run as the team’s head coach.

The Fever also won five consecutive games last August and September, but that run was led by All-Star guard Caitlin Clark, who averaged 24.2 points, 9.2 assists and 6.0 rebounds in the five wins, making 21 total 3-pointers. This streak has come entirely without Clark, who has sat out the past seven games because of a right groin injury.

Up 12 midway through the fourth quarter Sunday, Indiana was able to withstand an 11-0 run by Seattle that cut the margin to one point on a Skylar Diggins three-point play with 2:14 remaining.

“I also think it shows the growth that we’ve had as a team because early in the season, we were just so inconsistent, and if teams were to do that, we would normally lose those games,” said forward Sophie Cunningham, whose 17 points on 4-of-5 3-point shooting were a high since joining the Fever. “Just shows that we’re getting closer, we’re trusting each other — I think that’s the biggest part is trusting and knowing that we can win those games even if they go on runs.”

Said White: “I was proud of our group for how we stayed — not just together, because we always stay together — but how we stayed even and we came down and we went to the next play. We made some big plays in key moments that allowed us to win the ballgame.”

The Storm did have multiple opportunities to tie the score. Over the final 1:07 of the fourth quarter, Seattle missed five 3-pointers that could have evened the score, culminating with Gabby Williams‘ attempt rimming out in the final five seconds. Aliyah Boston, who had a sixth consecutive double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) secured the miss to end the threat.

“My stomach was doing flips there,” White said. “I felt like they did a really good job of executing. We didn’t do quite as good a job of anticipating action and communicating screens. You know, we got fortunate that they didn’t fall.”

For the Storm, Sunday was a second loss this weekend decided in the final seconds. On Friday, Seattle lost to the Los Angeles Sparks at home in double overtime when Diggins missed at the buzzer. The results dropped the Storm to sixth in the WNBA standings, a game behind Indiana.

“I’m super proud of our group, having had a tough game on Friday and rallying back to get us in position to win the game,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “I thought that we executed really well in finding the looks we wanted. For us, we want to not just have moral victories around those particular things.

“We are getting better in those areas and we know those deposits are going to pay dividends coming up, but yeah, I think this group needs to feel a win, getting rewarded for all their hard work, effort to get us in that position.”