INDIANAPOLIS – When rookie sensation Caitlin Clark pulled down a defensive rebound with 10 seconds remaining Wednesday night, it felt as though all 17,247 fans packing Gainbridge Fieldhouse exhaled at once.
The Indiana Fever again conquered one of the WNBA’s top teams, holding on for a gritty 84-80 victory against the Connecticut Sun for their ninth win in the last 10 home games.
The win strengthened the Fever’s playoff push with nine games remaining in the regular season and burnished the team’s reputation as a potential first-round opponent nobody wants to face.
“I think it’s a big win for us,” Clark said. “I don’t know. This is a team that we felt we really hadn’t given a game to at all.”
Connecticut won the first three games of the season series by an average of 14 points but escaped with an 88-84 victory during its last visit to Indianapolis on May 20.
Indiana (15-16) has been red hot with four wins in five games since returning from the Olympic break. And the seventh-place Fever held a four-game lead on the ninth-place Atlanta Dream when the buzzer sounded.
The Dream (10-19) was scheduled to tip off on the road against the Seattle Storm at 10 p.m.
While the Fever haven’t been to the postseason since 2016, they kept a star-studded crowd that included Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles and Gabby Thomas, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson and television icon David Letterman on the edge of their seats.
“I think, for me, just the maturity and the toughness that my players showed tonight was just incredible,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “We’re watching them just grow up, right? And from where we started to where we are now, just the way they’ve just consistently improved, that 1% -- so, for me, proud. Proud for the win. Connecticut is an incredible team. But so proud of these players.”
Indiana pushed the tempo in the first quarter and took a 33-26 lead after the first 10 minutes. Connecticut (22-8) successfully slowed the pace in the second period, but the home team still went to the locker room with a 51-42 lead at intermission.
The game began to turn in the third quarter when the Sun opened with a 12-2 run to take a 54-53 lead on DaWanna Bonner’s basket just 3:08 into the second half.
Lexie Hull – who scored in double figures for the third time in her last four outings – put the Fever back in front with a 3-pointer 12 seconds later, and the remainder of the game was played with playoff intensity.
Both teams won replay challenges during a contentious third quarter, and Clark went to the deck after being leveled on a hard screen by Alyssa Thomas.
Through it all, Indiana held on for a 69-66 lead entering the final period.
“I would say it’s definitely up there with one of the most physical games I’ve played so far,” Clark said. “But that’s – you know you’re gonna get that from them when you come into this game. That’s just how they are. They’re a physical team.”
Marina Mabrey’s 3-pointer with 2:51 remaining marked the third lead change of the fourth quarter and put the Sun on top 80-78.
Aliyah Boston answered with a layup to tie the game off an assist by Kelsey Mitchell 20 seconds later, and neither team scored for the next 1:14
Clark broke the drought with a driving layup to again put Indiana in front, but her 3-point attempt with 49 seconds left went halfway into the net before bouncing out and keeping Connecticut alive.
Temi fa*gbenle, who did a lot of things that won’t show up in the box score, played excellent defense on the other end to force a turnover with 24 seconds left.
Then things got tense. Again.
DiJonai Carrington was called for a foul on the Fever’s inbound pass, resetting the game. On the next inbounds play, Mitchell went to the ground while trying to corral the ball, and Connecticut was called for a foul that would have sent the Indiana guard to the free-throw line.
The Sun successfully challenged the ruling, but Indiana was awarded possession because of an inadvertent whistle.
That led to Hull sinking a pair of free throws with 19.1 seconds remaining, and Clark pulling down a rebound after Carrington’s missed 3-pointer to seal the win.
“I think for us, it was just about not taking it no more,” Mitchell said of holding off the visitors down the stretch. “And I think it was a matter of you want to win or you don’t.”
Mitchell led all scorers with 23 points. Clark added 19 points, five rebounds and five assists and set the WNBA record for 3-pointers in a season by a rookie just 43 seconds into the contest. She finished with 87 3-pointers for the year, surpassing fellow No. 1 overall pick Rhyne Howard’s mark of 85 set in 2022.
Hull finished with 17 points, eight rebounds (six offensive) and three assists. Boston added 10 points, a game-high eight assists, six rebounds and four steals, and NaLyssa Smith completed all five starters in double-figure scoring with 10 points and six rebounds.
Carrington led Connecticut with 19 points, Thomas added 17 and Mabrey scored 16 off the bench.
“I think we’re taking every game as it comes, one at a time, and to get a win tonight, I think somebody might have counted this game off for us, but I know we came in really motivated, really excited and believing that we could get a dub,” Hull said. “And I’m just really proud of how our group kind of stayed together throughout all four quarters.”
Indiana travels to Chicago to complete the regular-season series against the eighth-place Sky on Friday and visits the Dallas Wings on Sunday.
The Fever’s next game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse will be Sept. 4 against the Los Angeles Sparks.
