Caitlin Clark’s clap back amid the chaos might have changed the Fever’s season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Caitlin Clark had a strong response to all the noise that has enveloped the Indiana Fever in recent days.
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Say what you will about her, but this is what top players do: assume responsibility and put the team on their back.
Clark on Monday scored a game-high 19 points and drilled the game-winning 3-pointer from all of 30 feet as the wobbly Fever defeated the Washington Mystics. The 78-76 victory on the road took Indiana back over .500 — and it might have provided invaluable stability going forward.
MORE: Sophie Cunningham’s perfect pass made Caitlin Clark’s game-winner possible
Though Indiana blew a 17-point lead in Washington, D.C. Clark stayed focused and in the fight even as she struggled to score.
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After notching 10 points in the first quarter, Clark battled foul trouble as the youthful Mystics scratched and clawed their way into a late lead.
But Clark’s winning 3-pointer came after Mystics rookie Cotie McMahon went for the heroic steal from Sophie Cunningham’s lofted inbounds pass. It was a moment that showed the gulf in experience between the two sides, and the execution needed on the margins to win on the road.
The Fever‘s next two games are against two of the WNBA’s worst teams in the Chicago Sky and the Connecticut Sun. After that comes a home game against the exciting but defensively-vulnerable Toronto Tempo.
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The Fever could well be 9-5 by the time they play Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream again on June 18 — and this win over the Mystics could prove just the catalyst Clark and company needed to get their season back on track.
