It’s a different Indiana Fever team than the squad that started out the 2024 WNBA season.
Perhaps no game better encapsulates that fact than the Fever’s last outing. After dropping each of the first three contests in the season series versus the New York Liberty, Indiana didn’t blink late on Saturday afternoon.
The Fever raced out to an early 12-point lead in the first quarter, but suddenly it was the Liberty that had built an 11-point edge with 8:51 to play.
Behind a raucous Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd and a newfound steely resolve, Indiana battled back and closed the contest on a 22-7 scoring run en route to a signature 83-78 victory.
Of course, Caitlin Clark became the first WNBA rookie in league history to tally a triple-double. Clark finished with 19 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds.
Clark shot 7-of-17 from the floor, including 3-of-12 from 3-point range. After its feather-in-the-cap win, the Fever stayed put at their season-high ranking of No. 6 in the latest CBS Sports WNBA power rankings.
Caitlin Clark finally got her triple-double, and she did so in style as the Fever stunned the Liberty for their best win of the season. Clark, who is the first rookie in WNBA history and first player in Fever franchise history to record a triple-double, is now second in the league in assists per game (7.4). She’s reached double figures in assists in four of her last five games and will set the all-time rookie assist record if she keeps up this pace. – Jack Maloney, CBS Sports.
Indiana is now 9-13 on the season and sitting in the No. 7 spot in the league standings, which would pit the Fever up agains the Connecticut Sun in a 2-vs.-7 matchup if the season ended today.
In a rarity, the Fever have actually had some time to catch their breath since Saturday’s win over the Liberty. Indiana will have enjoyed three days rest when it meets the Washington Mystics on Wednesday, July 10 at 11 a.m. on NBA TV in its next contest.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions.
Follow Josh on X: @JoshOnREF