The Indiana Fever’s short losing streak is over.
Indiana ended its two-game losing streak and improved to 25-14 on the season with a 113-90 victory over the Chicago Sky on Sunday. Caitlin Clark and the Fever entered the contest as 3.5-point favorites on FanDuel Sportsbook and finished the season sweep of Chicago even though Aliyah Boston was sidelined with a lower leg injury.
Clark and Kelsey Mitchell continued their season-long brilliance with 14 combined three-pointers, while Sophie Cunningham added three points off the bench. Natasha Cloud led the way for Chicago in a losing effort, but there was only so much she could do to counter Clark making more history:
Indiana entered the game on a poorly timed mini-slide that knocked it into fifth place in the standings that have just a handful of games separating the second seed from the eighth seed. The standings flip with seemingly every result, so Sunday was an important opportunity to bounce back against an opponent they have controlled play against this season.
Yet Chicago was ready to put up a fight in the early going.
The home team used a balanced attack to seize a 51-50 halftime advantage with eight different players scoring at least four points before intermission. The Sky’s bench provided a much-needed boost, which helped counter Clark dominating play on an individual level with her combination of outside shooting and facilitating when defenders collapsed.
Makayla Timpson also got off to a quick start for Indiana, which helped make up for the loss of Boston. Clark even found her on a behind-the-back pass, although the visitors still found themselves behind early due to their defensive issues without their frontcourt star.
Still, offensive dominance is often enough to overcome defensive woes on the other side, as Clark and Mitchell reminded the Sky in the third quarter.
The duo of backcourt stars took over with an array of deep threes, floaters and drives into the lane, and Chicago had no answer. Frankly, there may be no team in the entire league that will have a counter for the guards when they are both playing at their best, although the Sky were still well within striking distance heading to the fourth thanks in part to an offensive flurry from Cloud.
But there would be no fourth-quarter rally for Chicago.
The Clark and Mitchell show led the way, but the Fever finally dialed up the defensive intensity when the game was on the line as well. The Sky failed to generate any offensive momentum until it was too late, and it would have required quite the offensive performance to overcome the two Indiana guards.
With Sunday’s win secured, the Fever will now look to start a winning streak and climb the standings as they host the Connecticut Sun on Friday.
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