Caitlin Clark had a personal-best 31 points and 12 assists in her final regular-season game against fellow rookie Angel Reese to lead the Indiana Fever to a convincing 100-81 victory over a struggling Chicago Sky on Friday night.
Clark shot 8 of 14, including 5 of 9 3-pointers, in her 11th double-double. She is the only player ever to have three games of at least 25 points and 10 rebounds in a season.
On the other end, Reese had 10 points and 11 rebounds, breaking a tie with Tina Charles for rookie double-doubles with 23 and passing Sylvia Fowles for the Chicago single-season record. Reese got the record with 1:32 left in the game, long after Clark and the other Indiana starters left the game. She also has a rookie record of 399 rebounds.
Clark may have closed the door on the much-hyped Rookie of the Year race, as the Fever (16-16) defeated the Sky (11-20) for the third time in four games to solidify their likely playoff spot, while Chicago narrowly holds on to the final spot as the season draws to a close.
The first matchups were decided by a total of 10 points with two one-point wins for each team, while this one was a blowout. Indiana had a season-high in points and Chicago allowed a season-high.
The game drew a sellout crowd of 9,445 to Wintrust Arena on Barbie Night — a nod to Reese’s college nickname at LSU, Bayou Barbie. The crowd included NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, as well as Sue Bird — who had her own Barbie doll when she played for the Seattle Storm — and soccer star Megan Rapinoe.
Kelsey Mitchell added 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting, her sixth straight game of at least 20 points, for the Fever, who are 5-1 since the Olympic break. NaLyssa Smith added 14 points and Lexie Hull had 11.
“I think we just understand each other a lot better,” Clark said of the current period. “Having the chemistry and having the time to play with each other, you build trust. I think you see that. … I’m proud of this group. We share the ball, we take good shots and that helps us in our transition game and it helps us on defense.”
The Fever were outrebounded 42-31, but had 28 points in the paint and shot 48.5% with 26 assists on 32 baskets.
Michaela Onyenwere scored 20 points to lead Chicago, who are 1-5 since the Olympic break. Lindsay Allen had 19 and Rachel Banham 14. The Sky were without Chennedy Carter (17.2 points per game), who missed her second straight game because of health and safety protocols.
With Allen scoring eight quick points, Chicago scored 11 straight and turned it into a 15-1 run to open a 21-9 lead. But Indiana closed the first quarter with a 12-2 run of their own to trail 26-23. The Sky had made four of their season-high nine three-pointers in the first quarter
“Other than the first six minutes of the game, I thought we were really good. We played good defense,” Clark said. “I’m just proud of this group. I thought we battled and we didn’t let it get close at the end and that was kind of the problem the last time we were here. We let them come back, we know they’re a really good fourth quarter team, but we battled and figured it out.”
Clark opened the second quarter with a pair of three-pointers to give the Fever the lead. Their run eventually went 34-12, good for a 10-point lead on Mitchell’s three-pointer. Chicago pulled back to 47-41 at the break, waiting for a free throw from Reese to open the second half after a technical foul on Aliyah Boston, upset over a no-call, as the half ended.
She scored the free throw and the score was five points, starting the second half.
The Fever took the lead to 11 early in the third quarter, but the Sky stayed close until Damiris Dantas hit a 3-pointer and Hull made two free throws on a hustle-play offensive rebound as time expired. It was 76-64 entering the fourth quarter as Smith had 11 points in the third.
The lead grew to 27 points before Chicago closed the scoring with a 10-2 run.