Clark, Mitchell post big games to help Fever even series with win over Aces

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark finished with 27 points and 15 assists while reaching another milestone Tuesday night, and Kelsey Mitchell added 26 points to keep the sixth-seeded Indiana Fever's postseason alive with a 99-89 victory over the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

Clark helped Indiana even the best-of-three series at 1-1 as she became the first player in league history to produce a points-assists double-double in the first half of a playoff game. She had 14 points and 11 assists in the first 20 minutes.

Game 3 will be played Thursday at Las Vegas.

The game was marred by an incident between A'ja Wilson and a fan who appeared to say something to Wilson after Sophie Cunningham was called for a foul. Wilson walked toward the fan, pointed at him and appeared to say something as two teammates, an assistant coach and security tried to separate everyone. Wilson was assessed a technical foul but was not ejected. The man was escorted out by security with Indiana leading 90-79 with 4:10 to play.

Las Vegas rallied to within 92-87, but even after Clark fouled out the Fever managed to hang on.

It wasn't just Clark's scoring that impacted this game. She put on a dribbling clinic, made nifty pass after nifty pass, became a harassing presence on defense and repeatedly encouraged the crowd to get louder.

It was a complete turnabout from Game 1 when Wilson dominated the middle and Las Vegas controlled the game. This time, Jackie Young scored 31 points while Wilson had 22 points and nine rebounds and passed Rebekkah Brunson for fourth on the league's career playoff list.

The Aces looked poised for a second straight blowout when they closed the first quarter on a 9-2 spurt and started the second with a 3 to take a 29-18 lead.

But Clark had something else in mind — like tying up Wilson for a jump ball, then grabbing the ball and walking into the baseline corner and pumping her arm toward the crowd. It was that kind of emotion that allowed Clark to start creating fast-break opportunities by winning the race to loose balls.

The resulting confusion and turnovers spurred a 20-6 second-quarter run that ended with Raven Johnson's short jumper that gave Indiana a 46-39 lead. Indiana still led 48-43 at halftime and extended the margin to 69-54 late in the third quarter.

But with Clark on the bench with four fouls, Vegas answered. They opened the fourth quarter on a 11-4 run that cut the deficit to 76-71.

Up next

A rematch between these teams in Las Vegas on Thursday night with the winner advancing to the league's semifinal round.

___

See AP’s full WNBA coverage here