Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever were back at the friendly confines of Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis as they welcomed another one of the league’s biggest stars, Paige Bueckers, and the Dallas Wings.
Now, there’s been a lot of drama in the WNBA as of late, and this one delivered some of that as well.
Just a different brand of drama. Not the clotheslining and rage-tweeting-about-White-privilege-from-the-locker-room kind.
DIJONAI CARRINGTON RESPONDS TO ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’ POST, BUT LEAVES MEANING OF IT STILL UNCLEAR
The Wings entered the game shorthanded, with Azzi Fudd among those sidelined.
Still, despite missing some serious firepower, Dallas kept things close.
It started slowly, with both teams failing to put more than 20 points on the board in the first quarter, but the offense ramped up a touch in the second quarter, with the Wings taking a 37-35 lead to the locker room.
Speaking of which, it was at the very end of the first half that one of the most notable moments of the game occurred.
Clark rolled her ankle while the Fever were on defense and, worse yet, hobbled off the court to the locker room.
The Fever were hoping to take over first place in the Eastern Conference, and that would be tough in a close game without Clark.
However, thousands of fans in the building breathed a sigh of relief when Clark started the second half and went on a roll.
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The floodgates opened offensively, with Clark finishing the night with 29 points and 10 assists. Bueckers also scored 29 points for the Wings, adding six assists and six rebounds.
But the Fever got an added scoring punch from Kelsey Mitchell — who finished with 23 points for a franchise-record 18th straight 20-point game — and Tyasha Harris, who went 4-for-4 from 3-point range, to pull away for a 98-87 win.
That gives the Fever first place in the East over the Atlanta Dream, who, coincidentally, will host them on Sunday in a big game for the conference’s top spot.
