Connecticut Sun escape Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark with 88-84 road win after 10 lead changes
After 10 lead changes and 10 tied scores, the Connecticut Sun escaped Monday’s rematch against the Indiana Fever with an 88-84 victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Superstar forward Alyssa Thomas nearly logged her second triple-double against Fever this season with a game-high 24 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists.The 2023 MVP runner-up shot 8-for-14 from the field, also adding a block and a steal with just one turnover.
However, it was Tyasha Harris who fueled the fourth-quarter push from Connecticut. Indiana mounted a comeback down nine points to take a one-point lead at the start of the fourth, and the Fever built momentum with a block by Aliyah Boston that turned into a logo 3-pointer for rookie phenom Caitlin Clark in transition.
Indiana led by as many as four points in the final four minutes of the game, but a clutch 3-pointer from Harris made it a 1-point game again. The Sun then drew a transition take foul against Clark — who was also assessed a technical foul on the play — to tied it 76-76 on a free throw by Bonner.
Harris made another critical play moments later, making a layup through traffic and drawing a fifth foul against Clark to put Connecticut back in the lead. She was the only Sun player to make more than one 3-pointer, hitting her third of the game with under two minutes to play, and finished with 16 points shooting 5-for-12 from the field.
Boston, the 2023 Rookie of the Year, hit a layup off an assist from Clark to tie the game with less than 30 seconds remaining. Harris again delivered under pressure, drawing a foul against Indiana’s Temi Fagbenle on a screen and making both free throws to break the tie. Thomas added two free throws of her own to seal the win on the final possession.
Clark struggled in her debut against Connecticut last week but managed to put Sun’s stifiling defense on its heels quickly on Monday. She nailed her first 3-pointer less than two minutes in after she missed three in a row to open the matchup in Uncasville last week. Clark got into early foul trouble with two in the first quarter, but the Fever’s bench rotation found its rhythm with the rookie off the court. Indiana went on a 10-2 run to end the quarter with three reserves on the floor and both Clark and Boston on the bench.
Clark also came off the floor for several minutes at the end of the second quarter after she took a misstep on her left ankle while guarding Thomas. She returned to the bench quickly after limping to the locker room and was critical for the Fever in the second half, finishing with a team-leading 17 points shooting 3-for-7 from 3-point range plus five assists and three rebounds. She remained turnover-prone with five, though it was a significant improvement from her 10 in the first meeting.
Thomas put the Sun on her back through a sluggish first half, logging 11 points of 4-for-6 shooting plus six rebounds in the first quarter alone. She was already approaching a triple-double with 14 points and nine rebounds at halftime, but Thomas was less productive than usual as a passer while the rest of the team struggled to make shots. The Fever led at halftime 44-41 after Connecticut missed nine consecutive field goal attempts over the last three minutes of the second quarter.
The Sun shot 10% from 3-point range against the Washington Mystics on Friday and continued the slump in Indianapolis. Connecticut made a single 3-pointer on XX first-half attempts and finished shooting 21.1% from beyond the arc. DeWanna Bonner hit her first outside shot of the season in the third quarter and finished 7-for-19 from the field for 22 points, though she went 1-for-7 from three.
