Caitlin Clark hit the shot that she and the Indiana Fever had to have. The Fever lost a 17-point lead and found themselves down one with 4.3 seconds remaining—enter Clark.
Clark nailed a 31-foot three-pointer from the left wing, leaving the Mystics with just 1.2 seconds on the clock. Indiana was able to hold on the other end to secure a much-needed victory, and avoid another bad loss after being in front, like what happened against the New York Liberty in their last game.
Clark got off to a hot start, scoring 10 points in the opening quarter against Washington, but she picked up a third foul in the second quarter and never really found the same rhythm she started the contest with.
She even missed two free throws with 36 seconds left and the Fever down one, which was extremely uncharacteristic considering she entered the game shooting 93.3% from the line. Clark did find a streaking Kelsey Mitchell for a bucket to put Indiana ahead with 11.3 seconds left. But after two Sonia Citron free throws, Washington held a 76-75 lead.
That was until Clark hit the dagger from deep.
Clark also made sure to let old college foe Cotie McMahon (who was the nearest defender) know about it after knocking down the shot.
Clark’s shot likely wouldn’t have been needed if not for further Fever foul woes.
The third foul on the star point guard cut her first half short. Clark has been attacked defensively often this season, which has contributed to the foul trouble. She also made a mistake making any contact at all on a Citron drive that she clearly meant to leave for an uncontested layup.
However, Clark is not getting the same benefit of the whistle on the other end. And she also was undercut on a three-pointer in the third quarter on a play that wasn’t upgraded to a flagrant.
Meanwhile, Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and Monique Billings were all whistled for five fouls in the game. The Fever’s fifth starter, Lexie Hull, had four. Clark stayed at three for the duration.
Those issues are easier to focus on cleaning up following a victory—one that came on the clean look from Clark that helped save the Fever season from spiraling.
“I was almost like too open. That was like the best look I had all night,” Clark said on Peacock’s postgame show.
Fortunately for the Fever, she was able to capitalize.
Indiana improved to 6-5 on the season with a chance to continue to get right as the struggling Chicago Sky and lowly Connecticut Sun are up next on the schedule.
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