Caitlin Clark achieves 29 points as Fever fight off Mercury

Caitlin Clark was quick to start and ended up scoring 29 points with 10 assist. Kelsey Mitchell scored 28 points to assist to help the Indiana Fever fend off a fast second-half rally from Phoenix Mercury Phoenix Mercury for a critical win on Friday night, 98-89.

By Michael Voepel

Aug 17, 2024 02:08 AM

The Indiana Fever ‘s first victory over the Phoenix Mercury this season, on June 30, is the game that rookie Caitlin Clark believes was a turning point for her team. A third win Friday over the Mercury — 98-89 as Indiana played its first game since the Olympic break — completed a season sweep and moved the Fever closer to a long-awaited playoff spot.

Indiana remains in the middle of 13 games left in the regular season. However, the Fever are currently in seventh position one game ahead of eighth-place Chicago as well as three games ahead the ninth place Atlanta. Eight teams in the top 8 qualify for playoffs in the WNBA playoffs, something that Indiana hasn’t been able to do since 2016.

After a difficult schedule led to a 0-8 season, Indiana is now 12-15 as Clark continues to create WNBA history. By scoring 29 points one shy of her season-high 10-assists and five rebounds Clark was the very first WNBA rookie to win more than 25 points, 10 assists and 5 rebound. This was her second game of the season.

Clark has an WNBA record of 19 assists during the final game of the Fever before the break, on the 17th of July. With 10 assists the total of her assists was 29. is the second-highest total of an WNBA player in a two-game stretch. This is second only to New York Liberty‘s Courtney Vandersloot who scored 30 assists over a two-game span in the year 2020 playing for the Sky.

“I’ve always been able to understand the court well and see something happen before it happens,” Clark stated when asked how fast her skills in playmaking adapted from her college days to the WNBA. “But I think it’s just been developing the chemistry with my teammates, where they can see it and be on the same page. It’s having that chemistry that’s unspoken.”

Clark was credited with 10 assists in Clark scored 10 assists during the WNBA All-Star Game, contributing to the team’s victory of 117-109 against The U.S. national team, on the 20th of July. After a few days of vacation she went back to her workouts in her Fever and was excited to return on Friday.

And so were her teammates, which included experienced guard Kelsey Mitchell, who scored 28 points, and was able to team up with Clark to score 10 3-pointers. Mitchell, the No. 2 draft choice in 2018 She is having her seventh year with the Fever and is finally part of an actual playoff chase.

“I think we came out with a lot of energy,” Clark stated about the Fever which were ahead 33-16 at the end of the first quarter and up 54-37 at the half however, they were able to see Phoenix come back during the 3rd quarter. “They’re a really good team, they’re not going to go away. We let them go on a run, but then we responded. I’m really proud of us. We just kept battling and fighting.”

Kahleah Copper, who, along with Mercury co-stars Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi took home Olympic gold along with Team USA at Paris and led Phoenix with 32 points.

“I think one of our biggest wins of the season was our first win at Phoenix,” Clark declared about the 88-82 win that saw her finish just one rebound short of having a triple-double. “That really kind of boosted us into how we’re playing basketball right now. We have a lot of respect for how they play the game and how talented they are, and I think that gave us confidence.”

The Fever also beat Phoenix 95-86 Phoenix on the 12th of July. Clark has scored at minimum 15 points and 10 assists in each of the three of the games against Mercury and is becoming the very first person to ever in WNBA history to reach the same totals with three straight games played against the exact opponent.

With 223 assists in the current season Clark will also be just short from breaking the freshman record of 225, set by Ticha Penicheiro in 1998.

“This being such a young team … just as the season goes, they start recognizing things with each other,” Fever coach Christie Sides said of how Clark has clicked on with the other players. “It’s just these guys getting to know each other and trust each other.”