Game recap: Fever rally late to win as Caitlin Clark almost gets triple-double vs. Mercury
The Indiana Fever (7-12) continue their Western swing against the Phoenix Mercury (9-8).
Kelsey Mitchell (16.3) and Caitlin Clark (16.2) essentially share Indiana's scoring lead, while Clark adds a team-leading 6.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 5.6 turnovers. Aliyah Boston averages 12.9 points and 8.3 rebounds, and NaLyssa Smith 11.8 points and 7.1 rebounds.
The Fever's magic number in the regular season remains 84: When they hold the opponent to 84 or fewer points, they win. When the opponent reaches 85, Indiana loses.
Kahleah Copper leads the Mercury with a 22.7-point scoring average on 35.3% 3-point shooting. Brittney Griner (in 7 games) averages 19.3 points and 7.6 rebounds, while Diana Taurasi adds 16.5 points and 4.8 rebounds. Natahsa Cloud adds 10.9 points and 7.1 assists.
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'Minimum 15 shots a game': Fever need Caitlin Clark to be more aggressive
Final: Fever 88, Mercury 82
Indiana scores 19 of its 21 fourth-quarter minutes in the final 3:30 to beat Phoenix.
Aliyah Boston has 17 points and 9 rebounds. Kelsey Mitchell scores all 16 in the second half. Caitlin Clark has 15 points and close to a triple-double. NaLyssa Smith has 12 points and 15 boards. Temi Fagbenle has 10 points off the bench.
Brittney Griner has 24 points and Diana Taurasi 19 to lead Phoenix. Natasha Cloud has 15 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.
How many points did Caitlin Clark score today?
Caitlin Clark has 15 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds, hitting 2-of-10 3-pointers. She also has 6 turnovers.
Fever vs. Mercury score updates in final minutes
7.1: Kristy Wallace 1-of-2 free throws. Fever lead 88-82
12.9: Kelsey Mitchell 2 free throws after a Phoenix turnover. Fever lead 87-82
19.9: Caitlin Clark 2 free throws. Fever lead 85-82
21.0: Fever timeout after a Mercury miss.
35.6: Kelsey Mitchell jumper. Fever lead 83-82
Kelsey Mitchell for the lead with 35 seconds left in Q4 👏 pic.twitter.com/KEuLu04SSj
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 30, 2024
41.5: Diana Taurasi 1-of-2 free throws. Mercury lead 82-81.
1:10: Brittney Griner 1-of- 2 free throws. 81-81
1:22: Kelsey Mitchell and-1. Fever lead 81-80
and-1 🗣
Kelsey Mitchell with the elbow jumper and the call 😤 pic.twitter.com/LqH55eXVOz— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 30, 2024
1:37: Natasha Cloud 2 free throws. Mercury lead 80-78
1:49: Caitlin Clark 1-of-2 free throws. 78-78.
4:20 left 4Q: Mercury 76, Fever 69
Phoenix owns a 12-2 scoring edge in the quarter. An 8-0 Mercury run prompts a Fever timeout.
Great ball movement leads to the corner triple by Sophie Cunningham
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/F5KIXGGqTS— WNBA (@WNBA) June 30, 2024
5:55 left 4Q: Mercury 71, Fever 69
Aliyah Boston picks up her 5th foul with 6:43 to go and heads to the bench.
Diana Taurasi hits 2 free throws with 8:36 left to put Phoenix ahead 68-67. She has 18 points.
End 3Q: Fever 67, Mercury 64
Phoenix rallies with 9 straight points after falling behind by 10. The Fever win the quarter 29-15.
Caitlin Clark has 12 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. Aliyah Boston has 14 points and 8 rebounds, NaLyssa Smith 12 points and 9 rebounds.
2:18 left 3Q: Fever 63, Mercury 55
Indiana has 5 3-pointers in the quarter and a 17-0 run.
Kelsey Mitchell hits a 3 on a Caitlin Clark assist. All of Mitchell's 9 points are in this quarter and the Fever lead 60-55 on a 12-0 run.
Kelsey Mitchell's 3 from Aliyah Boston's assists give Indiana its first lead at the 4-minute mark.
Kelsey Mitchell knocks down the three for the lead 😈 pic.twitter.com/jBjVVO0PiQ
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 30, 2024
Aliyah Boston's layup from Caitlin Clark's halfcourt pass makes it 55-54.
Aliyah Boston with the smooth move in the paint for the 🪣 pic.twitter.com/vznCWMMPOJ
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 30, 2024
5:27 left 3Q: Mercury 55, Fever 50
Caitlin Clark hits a long 3, and Indiana's deficit is cut to 53-48.
Caitlin Clark and logo threes go together REAL BAD 💪
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/tTBs5PwHz9— WNBA (@WNBA) June 30, 2024
Kelsey Mitchell's first points come at the 6:43 mark on a 3 off of a Clark assist.
Kelsey Mitchell has entered the chat 💬
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/s5j4xLNe4a— WNBA (@WNBA) June 30, 2024
Halftime: Mercury 49, Fever 38
Indiana's inside players are 8-of-13 from the field, but the Fever are just 1-of-12 on 3-pointers and 35.5% overall. Caitlin Clark has 7 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 turnovers. The Fever own a 21-14 rebounding edge.
Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi have 13 points for Phoenix, which has just 2 turnovers and is shooting 44.7% from the field.
Extra chippy: Fever, Mercury combine for 5 technicals in first half
2:58 left 2Q: Mercury 41, Fever 36
Indiana is going inside a lot: Aliyah Boston has 10 points, Temi Fagbenle 8 and NaLyssa Smith 7.
post work 💪
NaLyssa Smith with a bucket down low. pic.twitter.com/QdwO3z6zRE— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 30, 2024
4:48 left 2Q: Tempers flare on a dead ball
After a Phoenix foul, both teams huddle in the lane. Natasha Cloud and Temi Fagbenle end up yelling at each other, each picking up a technical foul. Fagbenle makes 2 free throws on the original foul, and Phoenix leads 36-32.
🔥Maçta bu pozisyonda Temi Fagbenle ve Natasha Cloud arasında tansiyon bir anda yükseldi. pic.twitter.com/vYwRj0WLLG
— Women Hoops (@womenhoop) June 30, 2024
5:25 left 2Q: Mercury 33, Fever 30
Indiana is 1-of-10 on 3-pointers. Phoenix is 4-of-11.
6:50 left 2Q: Mercury 31, Fever 27
Brittney Griner and Aliyah Boston get tangled. Griner gets a technical foul, and Caitlin Clark makes the free throw, and has 4 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
Caitlin Clark dishes to Aliyah Boston and Temi Fagbenle for layups as the Fever cut their deficit to 28-26.
Cailtin Clark bounce passes it to Aliyah Boston out of the pick and roll 😎
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/yEsoIYFVCx— WNBA (@WNBA) June 30, 2024
End 1Q: Mercury 26, Fever 20
The Fever are getting to the free throw line (9-of-12). They are usually on the short end of the foul game. Aliyah Boston leads Indiana with 8 points and 5 rebounds. Phoenix is 10-of-19 from the field, and Brittney Griner and Natasha Cloud have 7 points each.
Aliyah Boston down the lane for 2️⃣ pic.twitter.com/DXpBsgSb3P
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 30, 2024
Caitlin Clark hits a long 3, then passes to Aliyah Boston for a layup, then feeds NaLyssa Smith, who is fouled and makes 1-of-2 free throws on consecutive plays.
Caitlin Clark from wayyyy downtown bangggg🔥🔥🔥🔥#WNBA #FeverRising pic.twitter.com/5ctI949LV9
— Ashwin (@Sudharsan_ak) June 30, 2024
Clark has 2 fouls, the 2nd on an offensive foul while shooting.
6:04 left 1Q: Mercury 14, Fever 2
The Mercury score the game's first 8 points before NaLyssa Smith's putback basket with 7:49 left. Caitlin Clark has 2 early turnovers.
watch our world, kahleah freakin' copper is here pic.twitter.com/zOqxNaBok6
— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) June 30, 2024
Fever vs. Mercury starting lineups
Fever: Kristy Wallace, Kelsey Mitchell, Caitlin Clark, NaLyssa Smith, Aliyah Boston
Mercury: Natasha Cloud, Kahleah Copper, Diana Taurasi, Bec Allen, Brittney Griner
Phoenix Mercury have plans to defend Caitlin Clark
Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts says “we’re gonna have a lot of people guard Caitlin.”
Adds: “There’s going to be times where we try to force Caitlin to her right hand, there’s gonna be times where we blitz, you’re gonna see some zone. We’re gonna mix it up.”— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) June 30, 2024
Temi Fagbenle battles another injury
Christie Sides on Temi Fagbenle’s right thumb injury: “Temi’s tough, and she's ready to get some playing time, so I expect her to come in and help us when she can.”
I anticipate her to be on a minutes restriction and come off the bench.— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) June 30, 2024
Indiana Fever vs Phoenix Mercury start time, date
3 p.m. ET Sunday, June 30, 2024, at Footprint Center in Phoenix.
How to watch Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever vs Phoenix Mercury
TV: ESPN
Streaming: SiriusXM Channel 81, Fubo (FREE)
Caitlin Clark stats with the Indiana Fever
Averages through June 27 (19 games): 16.2 points, 6.6 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 35.5% 3-pointers
Get Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever jerseys, gear
Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark jerseys, shirts, sweatshirts and hats from Fanatics can be found here.
Tickets to see Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
Tickets for Fever games are available here.
2024 Fever schedule
This is the Indiana Fever 2024 schedule, with TV info; all times are ET; ^-preseason.
Date, day | place, opponent | Time, TV/results |
May 3, Fri. | at Dallas^ | |
May 9, Thurs. | vs. Atlanta^ | |
May 14, Tues. | at Connecticut | |
May 16, Thurs. | vs. New York | |
May 18, Sat. | at New York | |
May 20, Mon. | vs. Connecticut | |
May 22, Wed. | at Seattle | |
May 24, Fri. | at Los Angeles | |
May 25, Sat. | at Las Vegas | |
May 28, Tues. | vs. Los Angeles | |
May 30, Thurs. | vs. Seattle | |
June 1, Sat. | vs. Chicago* | |
June 2, Sun. | at New York* | |
June 7, Fri. | at Washington* | |
June 10, Mon. | at Connecticut* | |
June 13, Thurs. | vs. Atlanta* | |
June 16, Sun. | vs. Chicago | |
June 19, Wed. | vs. Washington | |
June 21, Fri. | at Atlanta | |
June 23, Sun. | at Chicago | |
June 27, Thurs. | at Seattle | |
June 30, Sun. | at Phoenix | 3 p.m., ESPN |
July 2, Tues. | at Las Vegas | 9:30 p.m., ESPN |
July 6, Sat. | vs. New York | 1 p.m., CBS |
July 10, Wed. | vs. Washington | Noon, NBA TV, WTHR |
July 12, Fri. | vs. Phoenix | 7:30 p.m., Ion |
July 14, Sun. | at Minnesota | 4 p.m., ESPN |
July 17, Wed. | at Dallas | 7:30 p.m., ESPN |
Aug. 16, Fri. | vs. Phoenix | 7:30 p.m., Ion |
Aug. 18, Sun. | vs. Seattle | 3:30 p.m., ABC |
Aug. 24, Sat. | at Minnesota | 8 p.m., NBA TV |
Aug. 26, Mon. | at Atlanta | 7:30 p.m., NBA TV, WTHR |
Aug. 28, Wed. | vs. Connecticut | 7 p.m., NBA TV |
Aug. 30, Fri. | at Chicago | 7:30 p.m., Ion |
Sept. 1, Sun. | at Dallas | 4 p.m., NBA TV |
Sept. 4, Wed. | vs. Los Angeles | 7 p.m., CBS SN, WALV |
Sept. 6, Fri. | vs. Minnesota | 7:30 p.m., Ion |
Sept. 8, Sun. | vs. Atlanta | 4 p.m., WTHR |
Sept. 11, Wed. | vs. Las Vegas | 7 p.m., NBA TV |
Sept. 13, Fri. | vs. Las Vegas | 7:30 p.m., Ion |
Sept. 15, Sun. | vs. Dallas | 3 p.m., WALV |
Sept. 19, Thurs. | at Washington | 7 p.m., Prime, WTHR |
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark Phoenix Mercury score updates, highlights