The Fever’s 110-107 win against the Storm featured a lot of great offense and not a ton of good defense. Caitlin Clark was responsible for much of that offense. She finished the game with 45 points, 2 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks.
She set a few records with those numbers. Clark is now the only player in WNBA history with a 40-point, 10-assist game, per ESPN. She also scored 45 points faster than any player before her in just 29 minutes, is the fastest player to 200 made 3-pointers, and set a new Fever franchise record for points scored in a single game.
After a lengthy absence and some rough scoring games, an efficient scoring outburst was exactly what the Fever needed to see from Clark to inspire confidence for the rest of the season.
Clark struggled in the last few games
The Fever’s 106-92 loss to the Sparks was Clark’s first game back from injury since June 24. She was on a minutes restriction and never really found her groove, shooting just 4-12 from the field and 1-6 from three. She was much more efficient in her next game, a big win against the Aces, with 5-11 shooting from the field. However, she still only made one of her five attempts from deep.
The Fever’s 88-75 loss to the Valkyries was a tough outing for Clark once again. She shot just 28.6% from the field and 12.5% from three, as the Valkyries’ defense bothered her.
The Storm’s defense cannot be compared to what the Valkyries can throw at Clark, but she needed an efficient high-scoring game, no matter the level of defense she’s going up against—and she was very efficient, shooting 11-18 from the field, 6-10 from deep, and 17-19 from the free-throw line.
“Obviously struggled a little bit getting back into a groove after missing a couple weeks, so I thought this was a good opportunity for me to come out and be aggressive early,” Clark said in the postgame media availability.
Hopefully, this game is a sign that she found her rhythm and is ready for a big second half of the season.
Clark wasn’t the only one with a big game
Clark’s performance was the story of the game, but others played well too. Kelsey Mitchell finished with 30 points, and Makayla Timpson made the most of her first career start with Aliyah Boston sidelined. She scored 8 points and grabbed nine rebounds, eight of which were offensive boards. Stephanie White trusted her to play heavy minutes against a stacked Storm frontcourt.
On the other side, Dominque Malonga recorded a double-double with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Awa Fam was one rebound shy of a double-double, but impressed with her 3-point shooting, knocking down four straight shots from behind the arc in the third quarter.
Flau’jae Johnson, Natisha Hiedeman, and Jade Melbourne also had their fingerprints all over the game with their scoring and playmaking. Johnson also got three steals and one block.
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