Caitlin Clark delivered a season-high performance Friday night, but a narrow overtime loss to the Washington Mystics exposed a trend the rookie finds troubling.

The Fever started the game on a great note, but lost their momentum in the second and third quarters. Caitlin Clark's late scoring surge helped them take the game close and eventually to overtime. Clark emphasized the need for consistent defense even when shots aren't falling.

“That’s like the hardest thing as a basketball player, is when you’re not making shots, to really stay in it,” Clark said after the match. "So I was certainly proud of myself. Really, really battled."

This is the second game in this season where the Fever have conceded more than 100 points. And as per Clark, that is the most 'disappointing thing.'

"When things aren't going well, we've still got to be able to defend and find ways to get stops, and we haven't done that very well to this point," Clark stated.

Coach Stephanie White echoed the same thought as Caitlin Clark. She felt that though they put all their attention on the attack, they failed to defend well consistently.

"We put a lot of pressure on our offense to be perfect when we don't consistently defend," White said.

After starting the first quarter with 6-of-7 from the three-point range, they raced out to a 26-13 lead. Clark herself scored consecutive three-pointers, and everything was going well. But the Mystics came back with a 25-7 run.

But Fever's poor defense gave away 20 points in the second quarter.

Though Caitlin Clark scored 17 in the fourth quarter, including five three-pointers to erase a 23-point deficit, they eventually lost the match 104-102.

Plenty to take away for the Indiana Fever despite the defeat

However, despite two defeats in the season already, White and the team have got plenty to take away from this game. Alongside Clark's 32 points and eight assists, Kelsey Mitchell finished with a career-high 24 points in the game.

The start they had will also give them the confidence as they go deeper into the season.

Along with that, their overall resilience to take the game deep would have certainly helped them be proud of themselves.

“I thought our whole group showed resilience in that rally,” coach White said after the game. “We showed the ability to make tough shots, we had some really good time and score execution moments, offensively and defensively. We just have to have more of it consistently.”

But having said that, their consistency will be tested again when they host the Seattle Storm on May 17 in their next game.

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Written by

Koushik Biswas

Edited by

Koushik Biswas