The Indiana Fever looked like a fresh team after the WNBA’s Paris Olympic break, winning their second game in a row with a 92–75 home victory over the Seattle Storm on Sunday.
Guard play was the key difference in the Fever’s win, with Kelsey Mitchell scoring 27 points (5-of-8 shooting from 3-pointers), Kaitlyn Clark 23 and Lexi Hull 22 (6-of-7 shooting from 3-point range). Aliyah Boston grabbed 15 rebounds for Indiana, which improved to 13-15 on the season (8-5 locally).
Clarke picked up her 225th career assist in the second quarter of the game, breaking the record set by a rookie in WNBA history in 1998, Ticha Beniceiro. (Although there are conflicting figures on how many assists Beniceiro recorded for the record — the WNBA says 224, while ESPN says 225 — Clark accomplished the feat regardless.)
In addition to his 23 points, the rookie standout finished with nine assists, five rebounds and two blocks. Clarke leads the WNBA in assists with an average of 8.3 per game.
Both teams got off to a slow start, with Seattle leading 17-13 in a low-scoring first quarter. But Indiana battled back in the second, regaining the lead in the final minutes of the half and taking a 35-34 lead into the locker room.
The Storm, who have struggled from three-point range this season, had a solid start from beyond the arc, finishing 4-of-6 in the first quarter and 5-of-12 at halftime. The Fever, meanwhile, struggled more from three: They went 0-for-6 on three-pointers to start the game and finished 3-for-13 on three-pointers in the first half before Mitchell broke through in the second quarter. Both teams made less than 50% of their field goals.
The Fever came out strong in the second half, going on an 8-2 run to start the third quarter that included a pair of big threes from Mitchell and Clark. But the Storm pulled back to rebuild things midway through the quarter and held Indiana from holding the lead for long. The Fever entered the final frame with a narrow 59-58 lead and outscored Seattle 33-17 in the fourth.
Jewel Lloyd led Seattle with 26 points, while Nneka Ogwumike finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists and four steals, dominating on both ends of the court. Ezi Magbegor contributed nine points, seven rebounds and five blocks. The Storm fell to 17–10 (6–7 on the road), third in the Western Conference and fifth in the league.
The Fever get almost a week off, with their next game on Saturday against the Minnesota Lynx at 8pm ET. The Storm wrap up their road trip at the Washington Mystics on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
