INDIANAPOLIS -- Caitlin Clark plans to use the Fever’s midseason sabbatical to reconnect with some college past times.

Her summer routine at Iowa involved working out harder than she could during the rigors of the season. That’s how the Fever approached their return to practice this week – going harder in the weight room, keeping score in competitive drills and trying to maintain the momentum they took into the league’s three-week hiatus for the Olympics.

After those long summer days in Iowa City, though, Clark said she rewarded herself with a round of twilight golf almost every day. Over the next two weeks she plans to break in a new set of Callaway clubs – and maybe work on her tan in the process.

“I would play until you couldn’t see your ball anymore, then I would drive to the clubhouse,” Clark said. “I definitely miss that a lot.”

The WNBA paused its season on July 21, the day after the All-Star game, so several stars could represent their countries in the Olympics in Paris. League play will not resume until Aug. 14.

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Clark called it the first extended break she's had since her sophomore year at Iowa. She knows she needed one – and not merely to get her legs back under her for the rest of her first pro season.

Clark’s national celebrity status – already immense and constantly expanding – draws both adoration and scrutiny. She said she is both appreciative of that status and conscious of how “mentally and emotionally exhausting” that rise has been. So she pushed her phone away, tried to do more reading and embraced this rare mental break.

“She didn’t know if she could turn it off,” Fever coach Christie Sides said. “That’s what she really needed coming off that college season. I was like, 'Caitlin, just step away and breathe.' I think she really did that, and she was ready to get back in here (Monday).”

The Fever went into the break 11-15 – third place in the Eastern Conference and seventh overall.

Clark’s 8.2 assists per game lead the league, and her 17.1 points rank 13^th. Her 5.6 turnovers also lead the league – by two per game. The whole package still puts her in the top 10 of the WNBA’s efficiency metric – yet also leaves room for growth in the weeks ahead.

That turn already began in the first half, and when it happened, the Fever’s season turned as well. After a 1-8 start, the team went 10-7 – including 9-4 since the Commissioner’s Cup ended on June 10.

Clark focused on one more number: 84. The Fever are 11-0 wen holding opponents to that score or less. Defense became a priority for this week’s return to action.

“We're scoring the ball perfectly fine,” Clark said. “That's not our problem. And obviously our offense is only going to get better and better.

“But if we find a way to get rid of seven points every single game, we’ll be in position to be a lot more successful down the stretch.”

Clark said this week’s workouts carried a training camp-like feel in their intensity and length. Yet they also felt more familiar and more connected than when she arrived for preseason camp. She has a rapport with the rest of the team now – something she hopes to build upon when she hits the links. Sides is an avid golfer, and Clark knows teammates Kristy Wallace, Grace Berger and Lexie Hull also play.

Wallace, playing for Team Australia, is the team’s only Olympics-related absence. Other teams lost more of their roster to the games. After Tuesday's practice, Clark and Sides sat off to the side of the court, discussing how the team can continue to cohere.

“You can keep getting better with that chemistry,” said Sides, who said the break will also include some team-building experiences away from basketball. “I just sat with her and got her thoughts on what some of that is like -- what we need to do, what she thinks of these next couple of weeks.

“The more they play together, the more that chemistry just builds, and the more we can tweak things here and there.”

Fever practices and workouts tend to coincide with the live basketball broadcasts from Paris. Clark has been able to watch the USA women and men play. She continued to take a diplomatic stance on her snub from Team USA – especially after feeling the benefits of the break.

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“I wouldn’t say I’m bummed,” Clark said. “It gives you something to work for, I'm sure, and something to dream of, and in four years you can be there. Four years comes fast. That's your time in college, and I feel like I was just a freshman in college.

“It shows you that you’ve got to start working now if you want that to be your dream in four years. That’s it for me – work hard and hopefully you can be there.”

Not that the hard work and the competition ever really stop. Clark has two weeks left to beat sunset on the golf course.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Fever's Caitlin Clark using rare summer vacation to refresh