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Caitlin Clark led the Indiana Fever to their first win of the season against the Los Angeles Sparks, scoring 24 points despite struggling from three-point range. Head coach Stephanie White suggested that officiating impacted Aaliyah Boston's poor performance.
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Credit: X via Tony East
After a disappointing loss in front of its home crowd in its season opener, the Indiana Fever went on the road and secured its first victory of the season against the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday night.
It was another frustrating outing from three for Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, going just 1-for-7 from deep, but she still found ways to contribute, scoring 24 points and dishing out nine assists in the contest.
However, one of the Feverâs other stars, Aaliyah Boston, had a much rougher go of things. Boston finished her day scoring just four points in 23 minutes, failing to score a single field goal. After the game, Fever head coach Stephanie White was asked about Bostonâs struggles and hinted that she thought the game officials were more responsible for the pedestrian performance than anything the Sparksâ defenders did.
âI think it was foul trouble. She didnât get a chance, really. Itâs hard to get into a flow when youâre getting called for all those quote-unquote fouls,â White said.
Clarkâs face showed palpable surprise at her coachâs blunt honesty.
White also expressed her concerns with Indianaâs defense.
âThatâs the nature of the beast. You know, again, we gave up 11 fast break points,â White said, via The Mirror. âYou know, transition defense, and itâs hard.
âYou know, sometimes, like, turning the ball over or quick shots leads to transition opportunities, but our transition defense has to get better. I think our ball screen defense early wasnât really good.We got better in certain situations. And then we became hackers in the second half, evidently. So, you know, I just think that thereâs a certain mentality that it takes to will yourself to defend every possession.
âAnd we are on our growth process to get there. We have the capabilities, thereâs no doubt about it. But there are going to be days where we donât shoot the ball particularly well. There are going to be days where things donât go great offensively. Weâve got to be able to rely on our defense. So we were better today than we were in game one. And thatâs what itâs going to take. Itâs getting better every day.â
Caitlin Clark scored 24 points and provided nine assists in the game.
Aaliyah Boston scored only four points and did not make a single field goal in 23 minutes of play.
Coach Stephanie White indicated that she believed the game officials were more responsible for Boston's performance than the Sparks' defense.

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The Feverâs next chance to tighten things up on defense and stay out of foul trouble will be on Friday night against the Washington Mystics.