Fever Sweep Regular Season Series Against Mercury

2024-08-18 04:20:05

Game Recap: Fever Sweep Regular Season Series Against Mercury

Sat, Aug 17, 2024, 3:23 AM

Caitlin Clark

INDIANAPOLIS – In the team’s first game back following the Olympic break, the Indiana Fever (12-15) defeated the Phoenix Mercury, 98-89, in its highest scoring game of the season at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. With the win, Indiana finished 3-0 in the regular season series against Phoenix and swept the Mercury for the first time since the 2015 regular season.

Friday was the fourth consecutive game Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell and NaLyssa Smith all scored in double figures with Boston, Clark, Mitchell and Smith all scoring double figures by halftime on Friday night.

Clark led Indiana in scoring and recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 29 points, 10 assists and also pulled down five rebounds. Clark went 9-of-10 from the free throw line and made four 3-point field goals. Mitchell tied a season-high 28 points and notched a season-high six made 3-point field goals, passing Allie Quigley for 17th on the all-time made 3-point field goals list. Mitchell also grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists. Friday’s matchup marked Clark’s 11th game scoring at least 20 points this season and Mitchell’s eighth 20-point scoring effort this season.

Boston and Smith combined for 27 points in the win, as Boston recorded 14 points and Smith tallied 13. Both players also pulled down nine rebounds each.

The Fever went on a 22-9 run for more than five minutes in the first quarter and outscored Phoenix, 33-16, going into the second quarter. In the first quarter, Clark pitched in 13 of her 29 points and 10 of Mitchell’s 28 points helped Indiana race out to the lead. Indiana’s first quarter run extended into the second quarter as the Fever went on a 23-8 run for more than six minutes and ended the first half up, 54-37, which was its second largest lead at the half this season. The Fever went on a 12-3 run toward the end of the third quarter and Fever forward Katie Lou Samuelson hit a 3-point field goal at the buzzer, putting Indiana up, 73-65, going into the fourth.

Indiana outscored Phoenix in paint points, 34-10, bench points, 11-6, and led by as much as 28 points halfway through the second quarter.

On Phoenix’s end, four Mercury (14-13) players scored in double figures, led by Kahleah Copper’s game-high 32 points. Copper added eight rebounds and six assists as well. Mercury guards Natasha Cloud and Diana Taurasi followed with 19 and 16 points, respectively, and Cloud tallied a season-high five made 3-point field goals. Cloud and Taurasi combined for six rebounds and six assists. Mercury center Brittney Griner added 10 points and four rebounds.