Indiana Fever Caitlin Clark Shows Toughness in Loss to Connecticut Sun

The start of the 2024 WNBA season has been a challenging one for the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark. They have faced several obstacles, most notably a brutal schedule. On Monday, they played their fourth game of the season, all coming against the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun.

Those teams are a combined 7-0 on the season and faced off in the semifinals of the 2023 WNBA Playoffs as the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds. For a young Indiana Fever team, that has been tough to overcome.

Alas, with each passing game, they are looking better and better. Monday night was their best performance of the season despite an 88-84 loss. It also led to them having to face another obstacle, as Caitlin Clark was forced out of the game in the second quarter.

She twisted her ankle and was writhing in pain, needing help getting to her feet and limped to the locker room. For the final 5:29 of the second quarter, Caitlin Clark was sidelined, but she showed some resilience and toughness returning to the lineup after halftime.

“She’s tough,” Indiana Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “She didn’t want anybody to help her off the court. I love that about her. I love that’s what she’s about. She walked it off herself, did what she needed to do to come back in the game.”

Despite the injury and unrelenting defensive effort she has faced, Caitlin Clark was able to help get the Indiana Fever back into the game. They took a lead with 7:17 remaining courtesy of a patented stepback 3-pointer.

She buried it from 33 feet, which is the second-longest shot by a player in the WNBA this season. Those kinds of long-range bombs is what we became accustomed to seeing Caitlin Clark pull off in college. But, she hasn’t been able to shake loose much yet in the pros.

“I think it was a big shot,” Clark said of her 3-pointer. “It gave us some momentum, got the crowd going. Our crowd was incredible. … I think you could see the progress that this team is making, and that’s why this one hurts a lot because we were right there and we had plenty of opportunities to go win the game, and then you don’t.”

The biggest issues for the young Fever currently are turnovers and fouls. They gave up the ball 17 times and there was a huge disparity in fouls, as they were called for 24 while the Sun only 13.

Cleaning those things up will lead to more success on the court. The first four games of the season have been a great learning experience for the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark, who will keep getting better with each game.