INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever had their biggest comeback win of the WNBA season Sunday, rallying from a 16-point deficit to beat the Atlanta Dream 104-100 in overtime at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Caitlin Clark had 26 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds for the Fever and became the first WNBA rookie to play a full overtime game (45 minutes) since Utah’s Natalie Williams in 1999. Williams was in her first WNBA season then, but she was 28 and already a professional, having played in the short-lived ABL.
Clark is now the first WNBA player to average at least 25 points and 10 assists over a five-game span in league history. With her fifth 25 and 10 game of the season, Clark has tied New York’s Sabrina Ionescu for the most ever in the league. Ionescu was the WNBA’s No. 1 pick in 2020, and Clark was the top pick earlier this year.
Another WNBA record for Clark: She now has 10 consecutive games hitting at least three shots from behind the arc. That’s the longest such streak in league history. And Clark is the third player in WNBA history to reach 300 assists in a season, joining Alyssa Thomas and Courtney Vandersloot.
However, Clark wasn’t happy about her nine turnovers and the lackluster way the Fever played in the first half and the beginning of the third quarter. But she talked about the resilience the Fever have built since WNBA play resumed after the Olympics break. Indiana is 8-2 in that span and 19-17 overall.
“It was impressive we were still in the game at halftime,” Clark said. “We felt like we were right there [even though] we really played a crappy half. I’m proud of our group. And then [Aliyah Boston] was incredible.”
Boston, who was a No. 1 pick and the WNBA Rookie of the Year last season, had a career-high 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting, plus 13 rebounds and 5 assists, becoming the first player in Fever history to have a 30/10/5 game.
After a 99-88 loss to Minnesota on Friday in which the Fever couldn’t come all the way back from a difficult third quarter, Sunday’s win was big for Indiana’s confidence entering the final two weeks of the regular season.
Indiana hosts the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces twice this coming week.
“This game showed a lot of growth for our players,” Fever coach Christie Sides said. “We’ve just got to kind of turn it on sooner.”