Backed by home fan support, the Indiana Fever knocked down six of its first seven 3-point attempts in the opening quarter against the Washington Mystics on Friday. But things quickly changed.

The Fever went cold in the second and third quarters as the Washington Mystics tightened up defensively and disrupted Indiana’s rhythm to earn a 104-10 OT victory. It marked Indiana’s second defeat of the regular WNBA season, and Caitlin Clark, who scored a game-high 32 points, didn’t look happy about it.

"Our biggest room for improvement is when things aren’t going well. We still need to be able to defend and get stops," Caitlin Clark said in her postgame interview, as quoted by Scott Agness on X.

Coming into the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Indiana Fever was averaging just over 95 points through its first two games. That ranked them second in the WNBA, just ahead of the Las Vegas Aces.

But every time it looked like the Fever were starting to claw back, the Mystics responded by attacking inside and continued finding success in the paint. Indiana stayed active defensively early on and forced four steals. Still, the Mystics managed to stay close by scoring at the rim and grabbing six early rebounds.

Washington also made a strong push in the second quarter. Their young starting guards, Sonia Citron and Georgia Amoore, knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, but most of the Mystics’ damage still came near the basket.

But ultimately, the Mystics dominated the paint battle, outscoring the Fever 58-28 inside.

Caitlin Clark makes the Fever catch fire late in

Caitlin Clark was the Fever's standout performer on Friday night. It was in the last quarter that she scored 17 of her 32 points, shooting 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. The rest of the team combined scored 14 in Q4.

With just 3.1 seconds left and the game on the line, Clark buried a 27-foot three-pointer off balance to tie the game at 89-89. She was pumped after the shot, and so was the crowd, which rose to its feet.

Kelsey Mitchell added 24 points while playing 39 minutes, making her Indiana’s second-leading scorer behind CC.

She also had a clean look to tie the game in OT again late after Sonia Citron split a pair of free throws, but the shot didn’t fall as Indiana lost 104-102. Despite the loss, the Fever would be happy to see the vintage Caitlin Clark once again after recovering from her injury troubles.

In the end, she finished the night with a season-high 32 points and 8 assists, delivering one of her best performances in the WNBA.

Read more at She Got Game!

Written by

Sauramita Debbarma

Edited by

Yask Kotak