INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark began quick and completed with 29 factors and 10 assists whereas Kelsey Mitchell scored 28 factors to assist the Indiana Fever fend off a livid second-half rally from the Phoenix Mercury for a important 98-89 victory on Friday evening.
Within the first sport because the Olympic break, Mitchell made six 3-pointers and Clark had 4 because the Fever celebrated the restart of the WNBA season by including one other twist to the budding rivalry between Clark and three-time league champion Diana Taurasi.
Indiana swept the three-game season collection with Phoenix as Clark tallied the tenth double-double of her rookie season.
Kahleah Copper, certainly one of Phoenix’s three U.S. Olympic gold medalists, led the Mercury with 32 factors and eight rebounds.
The opposite two — Taurasi and Brittney Griner — completed with 16 factors and 10 factors, respectively, after scoring simply 12 mixed within the first half.
The rivalry was initially stoked in April when Taurasi predicted that Clark, the No. 1 total choose, would face a impolite awakening in her first professional season.
Phoenix added extra gas this week with a Twitter video that included a younger fan asking “Who’s Caitlin? I’m right here for Taurasi,” after which there have been two temporary scuffles throughout the sport.
However whether or not it was the fatigue of Olympic competitors or returning to motion with two street video games in two days, Taurasi and her teammates weren’t themselves early — and it proved pricey because the Mercury fell right into a 48-20 deficit halfway by means of the second quarter.
When Taurasi and Griner obtained going, although, the Mercury stormed again.
They lower the halftime deficit to 54-37 and opened the second half on 25-7 run to take a 62-61 lead late within the third quarter.
It didn’t final.
The Fever capped a quarter-closing 12-3 spurt with Katie Lou Samuelson’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to take a 73-65 lead and by no means trailed once more.
