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    • Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever beat Chicago Sky and Angel Reese
    New Jersey

    Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever beat Chicago Sky and Angel Reese

    Seren Anwen Posted on

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    CHICAGO – The Indiana Fever officially reached the .500 mark with a 100-81 victory over the Chicago Sky on Friday night, ending a heated game with a 3-1 series lead in this budding rivalry.

    The Sky were aggressive all night, committing two intentional fouls with a grade of 1 on Fever rookie Caitlin Clark. And without their leading scorer, Chennedy Carter, the Sky just couldn’t keep up with the Fever, who earned their biggest win (19) of the season. Clark finished with 31 points and 12 assists. Sky rookie star Angel Reese had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

    Insider: Even an airball from Caitlin Clark is a good sign of the growing Fever. They play with joy.

    More: “Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were focused on winning games, not on the Rookie of the Year title,” says the “Fever” star

    Here are three observations:

    The Fever controls most of the game and secures the biggest win of the 2024 season

    At one point in this game, the Fever trailed 21-9. That didn’t last long.

    After trailing by 12 points, the Fever extended their run to 14-5 and pulled within three points at the end of the quarter. After taking the lead in the second quarter, they never looked back.

    With the Sky lacking the speed and distance of top scorer Chennedy Carter for health and safety reasons, Indiana quickly scored points from the three-point line.

    Indiana made 13 of 29 three-point shots on Friday night, including 5 of 9 shots by Fever rookie Caitlin Clark.

    Clark, who set the Fever record for assists in a game for the first time in the same building, dished out 12 more assists to her teammates and scored 31 points on Friday night. Kelsey Mitchell scored 23 points, making it her sixth straight 20+ point game. Temi Fagbenle, who played 18 minutes, had a +/- of 29 despite scoring just three points – a testament to her ability on defense.

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    Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell talk about “beautiful” basketball after Fever’s win

    The Indiana Fever are back at .500 after defeating the Chicago Sky on Friday night.

    Fever reaches .500 for the first time since 2022

    A .500 record is not a great accomplishment in most leagues. Some leagues don’t even make the playoffs with such a record.

    For the Fever, however, it is a feat they have not been able to achieve in years. Until Friday evening.

    With Indiana’s win over the Sky on Friday night, the Fever officially broke the .500 mark for the first time since the 2022 season. That .500 record in 2022 was established early in the season (2-2) before they lost five straight games and eventually finished 5-31.

    According to ESPN Stats and Info, it was a streak of 103 games that the Fever went under .500, one less win for the up-and-coming team. On Sunday, they have a chance to do something the franchise hasn’t experienced since 2019: win at any point in the season. Indiana plays on the road against 8-22 Dallas on Sunday for a chance at that elusive winning record.

    It’s extremely important for the Fever to have a .500 record this late in the season. Typically, not all teams in the league make the playoffs, and that’s why they end the season with a .500 or better record.

    With the No. 2 pick in 2022 (NaLyssa Smith) and the No. 1 picks in 2023 and 2024 (Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark), this improvement has been a long time coming for the Fever. This season in particular, it’s a sign of strong and rapid improvement for a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2016.

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    Indiana Fever’s confidence grows as Caitlin Clark and Co. score victories

    It was another great performance from Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell in another win for the Indiana Fever, this time in Chicago against the Sky.

    Victory improves Fever’s WNBA playoff impact

    This was an important game for the Fever in terms of potential playoff implications. A win would give the Fever the official head-to-head advantage over Chicago in the event of a tie at the bottom of the standings.

    The Fever now have head-to-head wins over the Sky and Atlanta Dream, the two teams battling for 8th place in the playoffs, so if the Fever end up tied with either of those teams in the standings, they would get the better spot.

    This also applies to the Phoenix Mercury – a team the Fever swept this season. Both the Fever and Mercury are 16-16 after Indiana’s win, and that means the Fever would officially be the No. 6 seed in the playoffs if the season ended today.

    After eight years without making the playoffs, the Fever are within their grasp to finish sixth this year.

    How many points did Caitlin Clark score against Sky?

    Caitlin Clark scored 31 points on 8 of 14 shooting (5 of 9 three-pointers). She also dished out 12 assists and grabbed four rebounds.

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    Seren Anwen
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