The Indiana Fever’s early season struggles continued on Tuesday with an 88-82 defeat to the Los Angeles Sparks, but Caitlin Clark produced her most scintillating performance so far.
The No. 1 overall pick finished with 30 points, five rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks in the game, becoming the first rookie – and fourth player overall – in WNBA history to record a 30-5-5-3-3 stat line.
She is now also the fastest rookie in WNBA history to record 100 points and 50 assists.
“Honestly, I think I just played with an aggressive mindset,” Clark told reporters. “I think that was the biggest thing, just to play downhill the best I could.
“I would have liked to have made a couple more threes … but I thought we did some good things and then we just kinda shoot ourselves in the foot.”
Clark shot 43.8% from the field against the Sparks and went three-for-10 from deep.
It was also the second highly anticipated meeting between Clark and Cameron Brink, the No. 2 pick in the draft, who ended a quiet night with just three points, three rebounds and two assists.
Kia Nurse scored a team-high 22 points for LA, shooting five-of-six from beyond the arc.
Despite the Fever’s difficult start to the season, Clark continues to draw huge crowds with more than 16,000 again in attendance for Tuesday’s game, including Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton.
The Fever opened up a 55-48 lead with 2:34 remaining in the third quarter, but the Sparks then went on an 11-0 run to end the period and take a lead they never gave up.
Christie Sides’ team has now lost seven of its first eight games after a tough schedule to begin the season.
The eight games they’ve played since the season tipped off two weeks ago is also the most of any team in the league and double the number of games played by two other teams.
The 22-year-old recorded another seven turnovers in the defeat – a game-high – but believes she has “improved a lot since the start of the season.”
“The biggest thing for me is, when I get in there, I still get a little indecisive – and that’s honestly where a lot of my turnovers are still coming from,” Clark explained.
“Just a little indecision when I do get my feet in the paint, but I think I’ve done a better job of probing and finding people open or finishing at the rim. I think I’ve done a better job as well of understanding who’s guarding me.
“That will continue to get a lot better, [I’ll] continue to take care of the ball a little bit better and find people, not be a little indecisive – I’ve got to make decisions a little bit faster once I do get my feet in the paint.”
Up next for the Fever is a home game against the Seattle Storm on Thursday as Clark goes in search of her first win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
