How the Indiana Fever defeated the New York Liberty to record their largest victory of the year
At Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon, the Indiana Fever pulled off a historic victory, defeating the league-leading New York Liberty 83-78 after falling down by 11 points in the fourth quarter.
As of right moment, the Liberty are 17-4 while the Fever are 9-13.
The following three observations are made:
Fever wins with a signature
Indiana has been defeating the teams at the bottom of the standings for more than half of the season, which is what it needed to do. Even though the Fever defeated Phoenix and won their first game against a.500 club, the victory was still against a middle-of-the-pack squad.
22 games into the season, Indiana secured a historic victory on Saturday. New York, who leads the rankings right now, suffered only its fourth setback of the year at the hands of the Fever.
With less than five minutes remaining in the game, the Fever was down 75-68, but they quickly rallied with an 11-0 run to grab a 79-75 lead. Sabrina Ionescu, a guard for Liberty, scored a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one point, but on the next play, she missed the opportunity to go ahead. The ball crossed the halfcourt line as the Liberty won the offensive rebound. After an over-and-back call cost the Liberty the lead, free throws ensured the Fever’s win.
The Fever have defeated one of the top three clubs in the league for the first time. Indiana has a record of 0-3 versus Las Vegas and 0-3 against Connecticut.
Fever score: Caitlin Clark records a triple-double as the Indiana Fever defeats the New York Liberty, the WNBA’s top club.
Quick start disappears
The WNBA’s eighth-place club, the Fever, didn’t appear to be playing the top team in the rankings at first.
Thanks to consecutive No. 1 selections by Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark, Indiana jumped off to a 7-0 lead and led 10-1 at the first media break. They lead 24-12 at one point in the first quarter, a 12-point advantage. The Fever’s attack was playing at peak efficiency; Boston and Clark were settling into a groove, and the group had a strong sense of urgency and vision.
Then that start gradually disappeared.
New York began to close the gap at the conclusion of the first quarter with a 6-0 run, and Indiana, who had replacements in the game, spent three and a half minutes without scoring in the second quarter. After a dubious call on Kelsey Mitchell’s inbounds play at the conclusion of the first half, New York gained an additional possession and Stewart made two free throws to officially close the score.
In her first professional triple-double, Caitlin Clark
Again, Caitlin Clark is creating history.
Clark officially reached double digits in all three main categories with 15 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds in the fourth quarter after grabbing her tenth rebound.
In Indiana’s victory over Phoenix, the rookie for the Fever came within a hair’s breadth of a triple-double: she ended with fifteen points, nine rebounds, and twelve assists, but she was unable to secure the game’s last rebound before she exited.
She made sure it wasn’t up to chance this time.
By the half, Clark had already scored 13 points, pulled down five rebounds, and disheveled seven assists. By the end of the third quarter, she had achieved a double-double in points and assists and just needed three rebounds to complete a triple-double. Within the first four minutes of the first quarter, she received those.
It’s the first triple-double for the Fever club and the first in league history for a rookie WNBA player.
In college, Clark was second only to Sabrina Ionescu (who happened to be on the opposite side of the court on Saturday afternoon) with 17 triple-doubles. Ionescu did not have a triple-double during her WNBA debut season, but she did in the ones that followed.
What was Caitlin Clark’s point total versus the New York Liberty?
On Saturday afternoon, Clark finished with 19 points on 7 of 17 shots, 12 rebounds, and 13 assists.
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