Caitlin Clark had 15 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds and the Indiana Fever rallied for an 88-82 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday.
Clark was just 4 of 14 from the field, and 2 of 10 from 3-point range. But she made a pair of free throws with 19.9 seconds to play to put the Fever up three. Indiana had trailed by as many as 15 in the first half.
Kelsey Mitchell’s basket with 35 seconds to play gave Indiana the lead for good. She made two free throws with 12.9 seconds to go to seal it.
Aliyah Boston had 17 points and eight rebounds and NaLyssa Smith had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Fever, who closed out June 7-4 after going 1-8 in May. Temi Fagbenle had 10 points for Indiana.
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Brittney Griner scored 24 points, Diana Taurasi had 19 and Natasha Cloud score 15 for Phoenix.
Kahleah Copper, who entered Sunday third in the WNBA at 22.7 points per game, scored just seven points on 3-of-15 shooting before fouling out in the final seconds, but had most of the responsibility of guarding Clark.
It was the first on-court meeting between Taurasi and Clark. Taurasi, 42, is the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer and is in her 20th WNBA season. She was a student at Connecticut when Clark was born. The Fever rookie said before the game Taurasi was one of her idols going back to when she first learned about the WNBA.
When Clark was drafted No. 1 overall after a career at Iowa that saw her lead the Hawkeyes to back-to-back NCAA Championship games, Taurasi said, “Reality is coming,” when asked about Clark entering the league. Later Taurasi said that she meant that it would be a difficult transition to pro basketball.
The Mercury jumped to an 8-0 lead and was ahead 49-38 at halftime, with Griner and Taurasi each scoring 13 points. The Fever went on a 17-0 run to lead by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, but Phoenix closed with 67-64 at the end of the period.
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There were two skirmishes during the first half, both during dead ball situations. Griner was assessed a technical foul while the teams were lining up for a free throw in the first quarter, and the second one occurred after a foul had been called and the teams got into it while huddling near each other under the Indiana basket.
Two players from each team were given technicals — Fagbenle and Erica Wheeler for the Fever, and Copper and Cloud for the Mercury.
In the final minute of the half, Smith was charged with a flagrant-1 foul against Taurasi. Cloud later received a flagrant-1 for a foul against Katie Lou Samuelson, who made both free throws to cut the deficit to 78-77 with 2:17 remaining.
Phoenix hosts Connecticut on Monday. Indiana finishes a five-game road trip at Las Vegas on Tuesday.
