Twenty-six days off, no problem. In the highly anticipated return of the WNBA season after the Olympic Games break, Caitlin Clark said she had been bursting at the seams to get back into it for a while.
In Friday’s matchup against the Phoenix Mercury, who were playing with three gold medalist, Kahleah Copper, Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi, the superstar rookie picked up right where she left off, looking like she had never stepped off the court, as the 22-year-old stuffed the stat sheets and lit up the game with a number of breath-taking plays.
Clark led the Indiana Fever to a crucial 98-89 victory against the Mercury as the Fever began their push for a playoff spot, a place where they have not been since 2016.
Putting up her 10th double-double of this season, Clark scored a team-high 29 points and added 10 assists and five rebounds in an all-round performance. With 223 assists this season, Clark is three shy of breaking the rookie season record of 225 set by Ticha Penicheiro of the Sacramento Monarchs in 1998.
“It was pretty fun. I think we came out with a lot of energy; it’s just continuing to find a way to sustain that,” Clark said to reporters postgame on returning to the hardwood during the Fever’s blazing start.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Fever led the Mercury 33-16 after the first quarter, during which time Clark caught fire scoring 13 points, and Indiana took a 54-37 lead heading into the locker room.
While the Mercury showed off their championship metal, refusing to back down, being led by Olympic gold medal winner Copper’s game-high 32 points, the Fever did just enough to lock up an all-important win.
Alongside Clark, Kelsey Mitchell contributed 28 points as the backcourt duo got the Fever over the hump. Mitchell, the No. 2 draft pick in 2018 out of Ohio State University, is in her seventh season with the Fever and at last in a real playoff chase.
“We’re trying to do these last 14 (games) as just one game at a time, just take it one game at a time,” Clark told media postgame.
“I thought we came out in the first quarter and really set the tone but for us, it’s just one game at a time.”
Fever second-year coach Christie Sides had a similar sentiment postgame.
“I really have just been preaching (to) my staff, just find a way to only focus our energy on the next play which is the next game. We aren’t in a position yet to lookahead, we can’t look at what other people are doing. We’ve got to focus on us and our habits and us just improving every game.”
