Caitlin Clark’s fourth quarter heroics nearly lead Fever to win

A great play design from Indiana head coach Stephanie White created just enough room for Clark to get off a shot as she drifted out-of-bounds. It was all the space she would need as the shot found nylon, tying the game with 1.7 seconds left.

“That’s like the hardest thing as a basketball player is when you’re not making shots to really stay in it,” Clark said. “So I’m certainly proud of myself. Really, really battled.”

The Fever were given one more scare in the wild fourth quarter as Sonia Citron’s half-court heave swished through the net, but it came after the buzzer, sending the sides to overtime.

Unfortunately, all those heroics to force the extra session were for naught as the Mystics responded again, building a multi-possession lead in the closing minutes. Again, though, they left the door open as missed free throws and a timely 3-pointer from Lexie Hull gave Indiana a chance in the final seconds.

However, a desperation shot from Mitchell fell short at the buzzer, allowing Washington to escape with a dramatic win.

For the Fever, as much as they can take away from their fight in the fourth and overtime, it was the middle quarters that were the most costly. Indiana shot 10-42 in the second and third periods, including 3-19 from range.

“If we don’t have three clunky quarters, we don’t force ourselves into basketball heroics,“ Clark said. ”We don’t want to play that way. Like I know it’s exciting for the crowd, but we should have had ourselves in a position, especially after the first quarter, to control this ballgame and we really didn’t.”

Friday was the second time in three games the Fever have eclipsed 100 points. Ironically, they have lost both of those contests, a sign of both how great this team can be offensively and how much work they still have on the other end.

“We put a lot of pressure on our offense to be perfect when we don’t consistently defend,” head coach Stephanie White said. “Again, this is on us as coaches. This is our responsibility. We’ve got to be disciplined the entire game. We’ve got to be disciplined every possession. We’re taking chances. We’re fouling shooters who are about to shoot tough shots. We’ve got breakdowns in coverages. We’ve got to find combinations of players and rotations that’s net efficiency can be good.

“We can’t wait to play defense in situations where we feel good and we’re making shots. It seems like we’re making shots and everything’s flowing and we’ve got energy on the defensive end, and when we’re not, we don’t. It’s got to be the other way around. The energy has to be dictated on that end of the floor and that’s a mindset.”

As dramatic and exciting as Friday’s fourth quarter was, the game as a whole highlighted where the Fever need to grow. No team wants to have to rely on “basketball heroics” to potentially win a game.

But it was also a sign of just how special Clark can be and how quickly she can deliver those heroics to try to save the Fever from defeat.