Clark, Mitchell Too Much for Seattle

The Indiana Fever beat the Storm 105-95.

(Seattle, WA) - The Seattle Storm (6-24) had another strong competitive game against the Indiana Fever (18-10), but ultimately they weren’t able to slow down Indiana’s backcourt. After Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 45 points against Seattle a couple of weeks ago, she followed that up with a team-high 32 points. Clark had several moments where she took over the game with her scoring, but it was Kelsey Mitchell who put the nail in Seattle’s coffin. Mitchell scored 18 of her 28 points in the 4th quarter as the Indiana Fever beat the Seattle Storm 105-95.

Seattle was excellent in the middle two periods, outscoring Indiana by 13 points. Unfortunately, the Storm gave up 37 points in the opening frame and was outscored by six (29-23) over the final 10 minutes.

Natisha Hiedeman scored a new career-high, 33 points in the losing effort. She made 11-20 FG, including 6-10 FG from beyond the arc. Flau’jae Johnson pitched in 16 points, before fouling out of the game in the final two minutes. Awa Fam added 11 points and Zia Cooke contributed with 10 points off the bench. Seattle was without All-Star Center Dominique Malonga, who is day-to-day with a back injury.

The home team had some advantages. They outscored the Fever 40-36 inside the paint. They outscored them 14-6 in second-chance points and had a 16-6 advantage in offensive rebounds. Seattle also had a narrow edge in fast break points (10-8). The Storm took care of the ball, committing just five turnovers in the game, as they outsored the Fever 13-8 in points off turnovers.

Indiana Fever

As mentioned above, Clark and Mitchell combined for 60 points in the Fever’s win. They both shot 50% or better as Clark went 9-14 FG and Mitchell finished 9-18 FG. They both knocked down four three-pointers each. Clark also went 10-10 from the FT line.

Aliyah Boston finished with 11 points, but suffered a knee injury when she took a hard foul tripping over Flau’jae Johnson in the second quarter. Coach Stephanie White didn’t have an update on Boston, but indicated that it wasn’t worth the risk to put her back into the game, which hopefully indicates it’s not too serious.

Monique Billings stepped up in Boston’s absence, finishing with the game’s only double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Sophie Cunningham scored all 11 of her points in the first quarter while receiving loud boos from the Storm crowd.

The Fever have now won eight of their last 11 games, I spoke with Monique Billings after the game about the improvement she’s seeing with her team and asked what’s been working so well for them.

“I think we’re building connectedness. Our chemistry, just reps, having reps together, building confidence off of these wins. And staying in the moment, staying present, just taking game by game.” Billing said.

Indiana outshot Seattle 52% (33-64 FG) to 41% (32-79 FG). They were also more efficient from beyond the arc, knocking down 54% (13-24 FG) from 3-PT range compared to just 32% (11-34 FG) for Seattle. To cap it off, the Fever finished a perfect 26-26 FT from the foul line. The league’s best offensive team certainly looked the part on Tuesday night in Seattle.

While this game was highly entertaining with the back-and-forth scoring from both parties as the two combined for 200 points, I asked Fever Coach Stephanie White if she could enjoy that type of game or not because of the team needing to improve their defense.

White told me, “I think I can appreciate it for sure. You know, we’ve had some of those games where I can appreciate that. And, you know, it’s kind of ironic being a defensive oriented coach, because I didn’t play a lot of defense when I was a player. But, certainly understanding and knowing what it’s going to take for us on that end to accomplish the things that we want to accomplish. And so I think for me, just holding our team to a higher standard on that end. We know that we’re not going to be able to outscore everybody. It’s just not gonna be realistic. And so we’ve got to continue to grow.”

“We’ve shown moments of being really, really good. And we got to continue to grow in that area. And I’ll just keep making them, continue to make them uncomfortable in those moments. And that’s how we grow. I mean, look, it’s not rocket science. It’s like, that’s how we grow, how we get better. And we are getting better.” White added.

Game Breakdown

Caitlin Clark opened the game up with a three-pointer to a large eruption from the pro-Fever crowd. Indiana trapped Jade Melbourne up beyond the three-point line and forced a turnover. That led to two made free throws by Monique Billings. After a missed shot by Flau’jae Johnson, Aliyah Boston scored in transition as Indiana quickly went ahead 7-0.

Seattle responded with a baseline cut by Jordan Horston for a layup, and a basket in the paint by Natisha Hiedeman. Clark found Billings on a cut to the rim, but Seattle responded with a step-back jumper in the short corner from Flau’jae, and a three-pointer from Hiedeman to tie the game at 9-9.

Johnson split two free throws, but Indiana responded with four from the line by Clark and Boston. Clark scored again on a midrange pull-up. Jade Melbourne darted past the defense for two. Boston muscled her way to the rim again.

Flau’jae added two more from the line. Kelsey Mitchell answered back with an And-1. That started a 10-0 run by Indiana as they nearly doubled the Storm on the scoreboard 27-14. Katie Lou Samuelson responded with a corner three, but Seattle was unable to slow down the Fever’s high-powered offense, which finished the quarter on a 10-3 run, including back-to-back triples from Cunningham. Indiana led 37-20 at the end of the first quarter. Sophie Cunningham led all scorers with 11 points off the bench.

Hiedeman found Flau’jae Johnson cutting to the rim for a layup. Boston knocked down a three-pointer, and then scored through contact at the rim on the next play. Awa Fam scored down low. Makayla Timpson finished at the rim to put Indiana ahead by 20 points, 44-24. Melbourne and Hiedeman scored on back-to-back possessions. Billings scored in the paint before Hiedeman added a corner three.

Aliyah Boston went down hard and had to be helped to the back in the middle of the second quarter. Seattle built some momentum with baskets from Hiedeman, Fam, and Melbourne. Caitlin Clark buried another three-ball to curb Seattle’s run. Seattle was able to get a call reversed after a coach’s review and took advantage with an Awa Fam score inside. The Storm continued to whittle the Fever’s lead down in the final minutes of the second quarter. They got a huge defensive rejection by Flau’jae, and then Johnson was fouled on the other end.

The home team cut their 20-point deficit down to six points before Indiana ended the quarter on a 7-2 run that was capped off by a three-pointer at the period buzzer by Kelsey Mitchell. Indiana led 58-47 through the first 20 minutes.

Flau’jae opened up the third quarter with four quick points. Clark answered with her third three-pointer of the game. Natisha Hiedeman and Clark went back and forth over the next couple of minutes. Awa Fam hit a three to cut the Fever’s lead down to two. From there, Indiana went on a 9-1 run, with seven of those points coming from Clark as the Fever pushed their lead back to double-digits.

Seattle answered back with a miraculous three-point floater from Zia Cooke and three free throws from Hiedeman. Both teams missed an opportunity to convert. Clark was fouled again and added her 16th point of the quarter. Cooke was fouled late in the period to cut the deficit to four. At the end of the third, Seattle trailed 76-72.

The Fever opened the quarter with three three-pointers, the first by Myisha Hines-Allen, and the next two from Kelsey Mitchell. Mitchell scored on a deep two to push Indiana’s lead to 11. Flau’jae Johnson gathered a missed shot and scored the And-1 at the rim. Mitchell found Hines-Allen off the pick-and-roll for two. Hiedeman drilled a triple to make it 89-82 Fever.

Indiana used a 6-0 run with points from Mitchell and Timpson. Stefanie Dolson ended the run with a corner three to cut Seattle’s deficit to 10 with 3:45 left to play. Mitchell and Hiedeman exchanged three-point baskets. Mitchell scored 18 points in the 4th quarter to help the Fever secure the win. Seattle was held at arm’s length as the minutes wound down. Awa Fam and Monique Billings added some free throws for each team before the final buzzer, as the Fever won 105-95.

Final Box Score

Up Next

Seattle (6-24) head out on the road to face the Atlanta Dream (16-10) on Friday, 7/31 at 4:30 p.m. PT.

Notes:
Photography Credits: Seattle Storm/Indiana Fever/WNBA Photography
Thanks to Her Hoop Stats and Across the Timeline for being great resources!

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