Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever enduring 'growing pains.' But WNBA opponents notice growth.

INDIANAPOLIS – Despite suffering another loss, the Indiana Fever played their most competitive game of the season in their 88-84 defeat against the Connecticut Sun on Monday.

While the Fever (0-4) are still looking to get a breakthrough win to jump-start their season, clear growth is being shown. Just last Tuesday, this same Sun team beat the Fever 92-71 in Connecticut to open the season. With first-overall pick Caitlin Clark and a young cast, the Fever are still figuring out how to play together.

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“This is what you expect from a young team,” said Sun All-WNBA forward Alyssa Thomas. “It's a lot of growing pains early on, a lot of ups and downs. But they have to be proud of how they responded. They've had a hard schedule to start the season, but they did a great job today.”

The Sun are one of the WNBA’s most consistent franchises. They’ve made the playoffs seven years in a row and have been at least a semifinalist for the past five years, despite not winning a championship.

The Fever’s four games this season have come against Connecticut and the New York Liberty, who were 2023’s WNBA runner-up. Indiana has played better against both teams the second time around, albeit in losses.

“Look, it takes a while,” said Stephanie White, a former Fever player (2000-04) and coach (assistant from 2011-14, head coach from 2015-16). “Building chemistry, learning how these teams are playing you in different ways, adjusting — they're making some adjustments on both ends of the floor — and executing those adjustments.

“So they're doing a really good job and they’re playing hard. They're battling every single night and we knew that we weren't going to come in and do what we did at home. We certainly knew that, but we found a way to gut it out.”

White played for the Fever in the franchise’s first five years of existence. The Purdue and Seeger grad was on the team for the start of the Tamika Catchings era, when Indiana made the playoffs just once in those five seasons. White returned in time to be an assistant on the Fever’s 2012 championship team and the head coach of the 2015 squad that lost Game 5 of the best-of-five WNBA Finals.

Now White is watching the Fever’s youth movement from an opponent’s viewpoint. With back-to-back No. 1 picks in Clark and Aliyah Boston, the Fever are hoping to someday regain the status they had in Catchings’ peak. White is impressed by what Clark — who’s wearing the same No. 22 White wore — has done so far in her rookie campaign.

“She’s hard to defend all the time, not at times,” White said. “Her ability to score in multiple levels, to take what the defense gives you. She’s such an outstanding passer.”

Clark finished Monday’s game with 17 points and five assists. She’s averaging 17 points and 5.5 assists through four games. Clark had seven points and five rebounds in the fourth quarter of Monday's back-and-forth affair.

“She’s good at shooting, getting to the basket and creating (for) others,” said Tyasha Harris, the Heritage Christian grad who guarded Clark in the second half and hit the go-ahead free throws with 11.3 seconds left.

While Clark made several great plays down the stretch, she also had two consequential turnovers that altered the game after Indiana took a four-point lead. Clark’s averaging 6.5 turnovers per game as she navigates the strength and athleticism of WNBA defenders. Defenses have been able to poke at Clark’s weaknesses so far, but White doesn’t expect that to last long.

“You got to force her to do the things that she's — I wouldn't say as comfortable with — but the things that the numbers say she's not as efficient with right now,” White said. “And that's gonna be different next year because she's gonna get in the gym and she's gonna work on it.”

Monday’s loss was encouraging for the Fever after three double-digit takedowns to begin the season. The 17,274 fans in Gainbridge Fieldhouse watched their team play at the same level as one of the WNBA’s most experienced teams.

Clark and the Fever have made clear improvements a week into the season. While it may come in baby steps, change is brewing ahead of the team’s three-game road trip.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What opponents think of Caitlin Clark and Fever's 'growing pains'