MINNEAPOLIS – Only two days after earning one of their most impressive wins of the season over the league-leading Minnesota Lynx, the Indiana Fever experienced one of its most disappointing losses of the year when it mattered most.
In Thursday night’s season-ending game, Indiana was rolled 86-66 at Minnesota in a game which the Lynx controlled from start to finish.
Adding insult to injury for Indiana, the drubbing was also marred by these disturbing injury scares:
Aliyah Boston: The four-time All-Star center went out in the first half after further injuring her lower-leg injury (knee flare up) and was sidelined from the second half on for precaution.
Tyasha Harris: Reserve guard had to be helped off the court when she fell awkwardly and hurt her left ankle.
Historic Off-Nights for Clark and Mitchell
Caitlin Clark scored just 2 points, 1-of-12 from the field.
Kelsey Mitchell’s streak of 27 straight games with 20+ points, a WNBA record, ended last night. Kelsey finished the night with 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Team will have to reset going into the postseason for Clark.
“Right now, everybody’s record is 0-0,” Clark said after the game. “It really doesn’t matter where you are. You’re going to the playoffs.
As bitter as it may be, as bad as it may be, we got punched in the mouth. We didn’t make shots obviously.”
“I’m excited. If you’re not going to get up for the playoffs, then you shouldn’t be on this team. That’s the beauty of it. You look at one through eight in this league right now, and it’s everyone’s division, we’ve got to have that mentality of being like, ‘Let’s go steal the first one.’
Lynx Bounce Back Behind McBride and Howard
For the Lynx, it was payback for starting her fourth-quarter benching of starters in Tuesday’s 23-point halftime deficit in Indiana.
Minnesota came out of the gate Thursday with the middle, led by:
Kayla McBride: Scored a game-high 22 points, including six 3-pointers, after missing in the previous meeting.
Natasha Howard: Colluded for 21 points inside and at the glass.
The No. 1 seeded Lynx now face an anticipated first round postseason match-up against the New York Liberty – a rematch of the 2024 WNBA Finals – on Sunday.
Indiana’s Path Forward Against Las Vegas
After capturing two of three against the Aces in the regular season, Indiana ranked as one of the WNBA’s best defenses, and remains so. The Fever may have the best offense in the league, but they still rank 11th in points against this season.
Head coach Stephanie White has been explicit about the team turning to defense when offensive struggles occur.
