The Indiana Fever (29-15) hosted the Minnesota Lynx (32-12) on Tuesday night in the Fever’s last home game of the regular season. Both teams had plenty at stake: a win for the Lynx would automatically clinch them the league's No. 1 overall playoff seed, while winning this game and the next one would improve the Fever’s odds of home-court advantage in the first round of playoffs. With Lynx’s rookie star Olivia Miles out with a calf injury, the Fever won 96-77.
The Fever entered the game after a 93-77 loss to the Washington Mystics (27-16) on Sept. 20, while the Lynx came off a 79-69 win over the Connecticut Sun (10-33) that same day.
In the first quarter, the Fever started strong, closing on a 14-2 run to take a 31-16 lead.They held the Lynx to fewer than 20 points in each of the first two quarters. The Lynx charged back, scoring 30 points in the third quarter to cut the deficit to a seven-point game, 71-64, entering the fourth quarter. The Fever's 11 steals and 18 fast-break points separated the teams down the stretch.
Indiana was led by Caitlin Clark’s 27 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists in a near-triple-double performance, while shooting 50% from the field and 43% from 3-point range. All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell added 20 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, extending her streak of 20-point games to 27. Center Aliyah Boston also had an efficient 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and added seven rebounds.
The Fever finished the game shooting 51% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and 82% from the free-throw line. They also out-rebounded the Lynx 39-32, attempted 14 more free throws than the Lynx and had 27 assists, 11 steals and 18 fast-break points.
“You know, there are often games where sometimes you just have to flush it," said Fever head coach Stephanie White. "We got hit in the mouth in that game and we didn’t really respond. And today, we were the one that threw the first punch and that’s what we have to do.”
The win keeps the Fever’s hopes of first-round home-court advantage alive. Because the Las Vegas Aces (30-13), the league’s No. 3 seed, beat the Los Angeles Sparks (16-27) 89-79, the Fever can finish no higher than No. 4, which would still give them home-court advantage in the first round.
“Like it’s not always gonna go your way," Clark said. "And I think for us it's about staying poised and composed, we talk about it a lot. Like there’s always gonna be ebbs and flows, but I think just the way that we respond has to be just pretty consistent and pretty level-headed.”
The Fever play the Lynx again Thursday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Danny Rivera is a freshman in the Sports Capital Journalism Program. He enjoys watching sports, going outside, playing basketball and listening to music in his free time.
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