What started off as a scary night turned into a victory for Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
The star rookie overcame an early injury while her team powered past the Atlanta Dream 84-79 on Monday night. Clark had 19 points.
Just seven minutes into the game, Clark attempted to get through a screen when it looked like she rolled her left ankle. She immediately went down on the floor and screamed in pain.
Clark stayed on the floor as she held her left ankle. Training staff came to the court to assist her but she walked off on her own power to the Fever bench. She was getting her ankle looked at on the bench during a timeout and as play resumed.
Clark did not head to the locker room and remained on the bench as the quarter ended. The injury didn’t appear too serious as she was back in the game for the start of the second quarter and scored on Indiana’s first possession of the frame. After the game, Clark said the injury wasn’t a big deal and her ankle just needed to be taped.
‘I saw the replay and I look really soft,’ she joked. ‘It wasn’t that bad.’
Outside of Clark’s injury scare, it was a great night for Indiana. The Fever opened the game on an 8-0 run to take a lead it never relinquished. Aliyah Boston established her dominance in the paint early and Kelsey Mitchell continued to dazzle all over the offensive end. Indiana led by as many as 18 points.
Despite being outside of the playoff picture, Atlanta had been one of the best teams since the end of the Olympic break. The Dream had won their first three games in August before losing the Phoenix Mercury on Friday.
But the Dream are one of the worst offensive units in the league, and the struggles were evident on Monday. Atlanta is last in the WNBA in points per game (75.8) and field goal percentage (41%), and the team shot 37% against Indiana. The Dream made a late push in the fourth quarter, cutting it to a two-point game and had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but weren’t able to convert. Indiana is now 3-0 on the year against Atlanta.
Mitchell was the leading scorer on the night with 29 points. Boston also had a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards.
Of course, the Caitlin Clark effect is still running high. The Dream play their home games at Gateway Center Arena, which has a capacity of 5,000. But with Clark and company in town, the team moved the contest to State Farm Arena, home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, which has a capacity just under 17,000.
The arena was filled, and the demand was so strong that standing room only tickets were sold. The Dream announced the attendance for the contest was 17,608, making it not only the biggest crowd for a Dream game, but the highest attended WNBA game in the state of Georgia.
Caitlin Clark stats
Clark finished the night with 19 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals, one block and two turnovers. She shot 6-for-14 on the night and 4-for-9 from beyond the arc. With her four made threes, Clark now has 85 made 3-pointers in her rookie season, tying Dream guard and 2022 first overall pick Rhyne Howard for most 3-pointers by a rookie.
Clark is also creeping up the list for most points in a WNBA season by a rookie. She now has 539, which puts her in 15th place. First is Seimone Augustus, who scored 744 points in 2006 with the Minnesota Lynx.
The win makes it three wins in the last four contests for Indiana has now won three of its last four games and improves to 14-16 on the season. The Fever are currently sitting in the No. 7 seed in the WNBA, which would clinch their first postseason berth in eight seasons. Indiana’s next game will be Wednesday night against the Connecticut Sun.
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