Caitlin Clark hits 7 3s and scores 32 points in return as Indiana Fever hand New York Liberty their 1st loss
INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark made seven 3-pointers and scored a season-high 32 points in her return from a five-game injury absence, and the Indiana Fever handed the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty their first loss of the season with a 102-88 victory Saturday.
Clark tied her career high for 3-pointers and added nine assists and eight rebounds as the Fever (5-5) set a franchise record with 17 3s in 35 attempts (48.6%). It was Clark's third career game in which she had at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Last season's WNBA Rookie of the Year had been sidelined with a quadriceps injury.
Kelsey Mitchell added 22 points, Lexie Hull had 14 and Aliyah Boston finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds as the Fever reached triple digits for the first time this season. They went 2-3 without Clark.
Sabrina Ionescu scored a season-high 34 points on 11-of-20 shooting for the Liberty (9-1), who had been the last unbeaten team in the WNBA. Breanna Stewart added 24 points.
The Liberty took a 17-6 lead before Clark took over in the last three minutes of the first quarter. She converted a three-point play with 3:06 left, then made deep 3-pointers from 33, 27 and 31 feet in three consecutive possessions spanning 38 seconds to tie it at 24.
The Fever led 53-50 at halftime before the Liberty started the third with a 9-0 run. The Fever countered with a 19-0 run and finished the quarter up 80-71. The Liberty drew within 85-82 after Ionescu's foul shots with 6 minutes left before the Fever put it away with a 14-2 run.
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CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Fever dream: Caitlin Clark and her teammates are still shocked – and inspired – by the circus following their team
Caitlin Clark says that she always dreamed of playing in the WNBA – and dreamed of playing in front of big crowds – but the seismic transformation she has inspired in women's basketball has still taken her by surprise. 'Being on the magnitude it is,' she told CNN Sports recently, 'is kind of hard to imagine.' During the Indiana Fever's first game of the new season in May, the excitement levels were at a fever pitch. Journalists covering the game against the Chicago Sky compared the energy both inside and outside of the packed 17,000-seat arena to a championship game, not the opener of a 44-game regular season. Her teammates dreamed it too, though many wondered if they'd ever experience it personally during their careers. During that home opener, Indiana's 37-year-old Dawanna Bonner became the WNBA's third-highest scorer of all time, but all the hoopla at Gainbridge Fieldhouse was something new. 'The atmosphere was insane,' Bonner explained to CNN Sports. 'I don't think I've ever played in front of that many people before, I was a little shellshocked. You see it on TV, but to be in it, it's like, 'Whoa!'' Since its inception in 1996, the WNBA alone was never able to fully support professional players, and Bonner spent 16 years supplementing her income from the Phoenix Mercury and the Connecticut Sun by playing in the Czech Republic, Spain, Russia, China, Israel, Hungary and Turkey. She said, 'To have all those fans screaming for you is a pretty cool experience, you've gotta get used to it!' Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell, 29, is now in the eighth year of her professional career and she's also having to adjust to the intensity of life at the epicenter of a women's sports revolution. 'It's an experience,' Mitchell chuckled, explaining to CNN Sports that the intensity isn't just confined to the court in front of packed arenas. 'The media, the constant eyes, some of the eyes you least expect. I've been in the league a while, so this is kind of new for me. I knew it would get here eventually. I didn't expect the impact, but it's such a positive and beautiful way.' Even the younger players, like 24-year-old Lexie Hull, appreciate that the explosion in the popularity of the women's game could not have been taken for granted. 'I was talking to Caitlin in the locker room, and we said, 'How lucky are we to lace up our shoes and do this for a living, as a job?'' Hull told CNN. 'The amount of people who come out every night and support us and cheer for us, it's pretty surreal.' Some of those young fans are now dreaming of following their idols into the league. Eleven-year-old Kamryn Thomas and her friend Merridy Kennington and their moms drove 300 miles to see Clark and the Fever play in Atlanta against the Dream. 'I think both of our dreams is to be in the WNBA,' Kamryn said confidently, while Merridy said that Clark is doing more than just inspiring them: 'I just feel that watching her makes me better and better.' Excitement in women's basketball might seem normal to such young fans, but their parents have told them that it wasn't always this way. 'I've explained to her that I grew up playing college basketball and it was never like this,' said Stephanie Thomas. 'Caitlin Clark has delivered something to women's sports that I don't think anybody else could deliver, and I think she's got a lot of women excited to see the future of their athlete daughters.' This moment in women's sports is long overdue, and everybody touched by it seems to recognize that things will never be the same again. Hull said she spent four years playing basketball and studying for a degree at university, assuming that she'd get a regular job at the end of it. 'I didn't think I'd be playing basketball every day,' she explained to CNN Sports. 'This is (now) a real option for girls, they can have these dreams in first and second grade, being a basketball player is now a legitimate goal to have. I just can't imagine what the sport is going to look like when players have been playing with that goal in mind for 15 years.' While some WNBA players might struggle to say that the rapid transformation of their sport is down to one player, the ticket prices for recent Fever games make Clark's impact hard to deny. TickPick reported a 71% decrease in ticket value when she was injured on the sidelines, while Sports Illustrated reported prices plummeting from $393 down to just $7. 'I like to think our team is here for her,' Mitchell said. 'So, whatever she does, she keeps changing the world, and we're here to support it.' Clark herself says she can't imagine where things might go from here. She can remember being the young fan looking up with wide eyes and big dreams and she understands the responsibility that she carries now. 'I try to make as much time as I can to sign an autograph because that can really impact somebody's life. Maybe they're going to put that up in their room and look at it every day and have something to dream about, it's not something I take lightly at all,' the superstar guard said to CNN. 'A lot of people didn't believe that women's sports would be in the moment that it is today. It's going to continue to grow and I'm lucky to be a part of it. I think, really, the sky's the limit.' After missing the last five games, Clark returned to the Fever lineup Saturday against the reigning WNBA champs New York Liberty. In the team's 102-88 win, Clark electrified the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd, finishing with 32 points, nine assists and eight rebounds including tying her career-high with seven made 3-pointers.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sabrina Ionescu gets 100% real on Caitlin Clark's big performance
The post Sabrina Ionescu gets 100% real on Caitlin Clark's big performance appeared first on ClutchPoints. The Indiana Fever got a huge boost before their big matchup against the New York Liberty on Saturday when it was announced that star guard Caitlin Clark would make her return from a quad injury. And Clark set the tone early with a huge first quarter that carried over throughout the Fever's 102-88 win against the Liberty. Following the game, Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu spoke about Clark's return and her overall performance, as per Myles Ehrlich of Winsidr. Advertisement 'Basketball is a game of runs. . .the same way we go on runs, they do as well, they're a great team,' Ionescu said. 'I think we gave [Caitlin] too many easy ones, she has great range. . .On a personal level, I'm happy to see her out there on the court and feeling good.' Caitlin Clark finished with a team-high 32 points, eight rebounds, nine assists, one steal and two blocked shots in the Fever's win. She shot 55 percent from the field, 50 percent from the three-point line and 60 percent from the free-throw line in a little over 31 minutes of play. On the flip side, Sabrina Ionescu was the game's leading scorer with 34 points in the Liberty's loss. She also added two rebounds, four assists and one steal while shooting 55 percent from the field, 40 percent from the three-point line and 88.9 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Clark had been out since May 24, the Fever's fourth game of the season, due to the quad injury. The Fever went 2-3 in Clark's absence. With the win against the Liberty, the Fever now move to 5-5 on the season. Advertisement Through the first four games of the Fever's season, Clark had been playing just about 35 minutes per game. She was averaging 19.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 9.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocked shots with splits of 40.3 percent shooting from the field, 31.4 percent shooting from the three-point line and 75 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Related: Natasha Cloud surpasses WNBA legend despite loss to Fever Related: The difficult lessons the Liberty received from 1st loss of season
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Caitlin Clark shares 4-word post after explosive return from injury
The post Caitlin Clark shares 4-word post after explosive return from injury appeared first on ClutchPoints. Gainbridge Fieldhouse held a second highly-anticipated basketball game during the weekend of June 13: The return of Caitlin Clark for the Indiana Fever, with undefeated New York also in town. Advertisement The hype and anticipation built for Clark in her return from injury. She exploded by delivering a near triple-double in the Fever's 102-88 romp of the now 9-1 Liberty. Clark dropped 32 points on the Liberty while being one pass shy of 10 assists. The second-year WNBA star also grabbed eight rebounds. Clark went off after missing five consecutive games with her injury. She posted a succinct, yet stirring, reaction on her Instagram page after the rout. 'Good to be back,' Clark shared to her followers. Clark couldn't suit up before Saturday due to a quadriceps strain. She looked like the dominating all-everything threat the basketball world knows her as. Caitlin Clark sparked multiple reactions early in Fever/Liberty Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Clark and the Fever had the headlining basketball game one day after Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The Liberty walked in as the favorite to win inside an arena that already saw the last home team lose. Clark and the Fever ensured Indianapolis was not going to endure consecutive disappointment from the city's roundball fans. Advertisement Clark fired up the online reactions early in the Liberty game by going off on the scoring end. She even nailed one shot from the WNBA logo. Clark hit six three-pointers in the first half that the Fever's X account acknowledged. Even LeBron James chimed in during the contest. 'The CC EFFECT!! WELCOME BACK! You were missed!' James posted on his X account. ESPN personality Elle Duncan was another in awe of Clark's performance. 'Caitlin Clark is absurd. Like.. not even rust stands a chance,' Duncan posted. Meanwhile, opponent Sabrina Ionescu marveled at the resiliency and brilliance of Clark. 'I think we gave [Caitlin] too many easy ones, she has great range. On a personal level, I'm happy to see her out there on the court and feeling good,' Ionescu said. Advertisement The Fever improved to 5-5 overall in the upset. Related: Kelsey Mitchell credits 'resilience' for Fever's takedown of Liberty Related: Caitlin Clark's boyfriend reacts to Fever star's message after Liberty takedown
