Caitlin Clark and the Fever came extremely close to their first win of the 2024 WNBA season on Monday night. The final result ultimately swung in the wrong direction in the final 30 seconds of the game.
Connecticut moved to 3-0 while Indiana dropped to 0-4.
Despite the loss, Clark believes that it was a very positive performance for a team that has had less than one full month together. She finished with 17 points, five assists and three rebounds and her teammates really stepped up around her. That is why this most recent loss stung even more than the first three!
The Sun took a two-point lead with 41.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Fever called a timeout.
Second-year head coach Christie Sides drew up a play for her team that did not seem to impress her superstar rookie. Clark looked at Erica Wheeler with a face of uncertainty and shrugged after the timeout. Wheeler also looked at Sides with some confusion.
The next play ultimately resulted in two crucial points. Aliyah Boston made a pull-up jumper from about seven feet off of a nice feed from Clark and tied the game at 84.
However, it took some time for the play to develop. It worked, but it did not look that way at first.
Clark did not seem to agree with Sides’ decision at first so I would be very curious to know if Boston’s bucket was a result of the’ initial play call or if it was a freestyle after the initial chaos off of the inbounds pass. Either way, points are points and it was one of the best sequences, if not the best sequence, between the back-to-back No. 1 overall picks this season.
Unfortunately, Indiana was not able to keep the momentum and four-straight free throws (split up by a Boston miss) gave Connecticut the 88-84 victory. Caitlin Clark will seek the first win of her WNBA career against Seattle on Wednesday night.