Caitlin Clark nearly matches career high in return from Olympic break

The Indiana Fever completed a season sweep of the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night.

The Fever appeared to benefit from the one-month Olympic break, coming out the gate with high energy and offensive firepower, while the Mercury (featuring gold-medal Olympians Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Kahleah Copper) appeared to have some rust. Indiana jumped out to a 28-point lead in the first half, but the Mercury heated up in the second half to take the lead in the third quarter. But Indiana didn’t panic.

‘It’s huge. It sets the tone of where we want to be the rest of the season,’ said Clark, who shot 8-for-16 from the field, including 4-for-11 from three. ‘To grind this one out and get it done is the step in the right direction.’

Clark knocked down three 3-pointers in the first half, registering 16 of her 29 points in the first 13 minutes of the game. Four Fever players were in double figures by halftime — Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston and NaLyssa Smith. But the Fever came out cold in the second half. Copper led the Mercury on a 36-9 run to take the lead with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter, but the Fever responded to retake a double-digit lead and earn their 12th win of the season.

Much like the first Fever-Mercury matchup in June — where five technical fouls and two Flagrant 1 fouls were called between the two teams — things got chippy and tensions boiled over during the physical contest.

With 5:07 remaining in the third quarter, the Mercury’s Natasha Cloud and Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell got tangled up on a screen. Mitchell shoved Cloud, who then responded by bumping chests with Mitchell. Double technical fouls were called. 

With 7:07 remaining in the game, Griner and Boston were jockeying for position under the basket when Griner elbowed Boston. Griner was called for a foul, her fifth, and was forced to check out for the game to her dismay. While walking to the bench, Griner continued chirping at the referees and was called for a technical foul.

Mitchell finished with 28 points, Boston had 14 and Smith had 13 for Indiana.

Just five days ago, Griner, Taurasi and Copper won a gold medal with the U.S. women’s national team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Copper finished with a game-high 32 points, Cloud had 19, Taurasi added 16 and Griner had 10 in that contest.