Fever vs. Liberty: Kelsey Mitchell Drops 33 as Indiana Erases a 13-Point Hole in 108-88 Rout

Friday night in Indianapolis was the blockbuster: Caitlin Clark, 45 points, 10 assists, a page in the record book. Saturday night was the sequel nobody thought could keep up, and Kelsey Mitchell turned it into Top Gun: Maverick.

Mitchell scored 33 points on 10-of-14 shooting, one night after dropping 30, and the Indiana Fever came back from 13 points down to flatten the New York Liberty 108-88 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. A team playing on no rest scored 63 points after halftime. The Liberty, who are in a very different kind of movie right now, went home with their fourth straight loss.

The Liberty Came Out Firing, Then Ran Out of Answers

For a while, New York looked like the team on the good side of the schedule. Marine Johannes made four threes and scored all 12 of her points in the first seven minutes, and the Liberty took a 28-16 lead late in the first quarter. Indiana cut that to 28-25 with a 9-0 run bridging the quarters, then gave it right back with an 8-0 New York run. The lead reached 42-29 with under three minutes to go in the half, the Liberty's biggest of the night.

The first real tremor came right after. A 9-0 Fever burst in less than a minute made it 42-38, and Indiana went to the locker room down just 49-45. Clark, who had been hit with a technical in the opening moments after taking a hard screen from Jonquel Jones with no whistle, then gave her team its first lead of the game with a three-point play early in the third at 50-49.

What followed was one of the most lopsided quarters you'll see between two teams with winning records. Indiana won the third 30-12. There was a 10-0 run. There was an 8-0 run. The Liberty coughed up nine of their 15 turnovers in the frame, the Fever got out in transition, and a tight game became 75-61 before anybody in seafoam could call for a rethink.

Mitchell's Sequel

Mitchell's efficiency was the scary part. She went 4 of 6 from three and 9 of 13 at the line, and she was plus-18 in 30 minutes. The AP notes this is the first time in her career she has posted back-to-back 30-point games, and that she has now scored at least 20 in 10 straight.

The team's own notes pile on from there. It was her fourth 30-point game of the season, which ties the franchise's single-season mark, and the 33 tie the Fever record for points against New York, set by Erica Wheeler in 2017. Her exclamation point came at 3:55 of the fourth: a 29-foot running pull-up, plus the foul, for a four-point play that made it 99-80.

Clark, meanwhile, had a much more human night. She scored 17 on 5-of-14 shooting and went 2 of 8 from three with seven turnovers, which after 45 points the night before is entirely understandable. She still handed out seven assists, hit all five of her free throws and scored nine in the fourth. Aliyah Boston added 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

The real luxury was the bench. Sophie Cunningham scored 11 on 3-of-4 from deep, Tyasha Harris added 11 with four assists, and Myisha Hines-Allen went plus-22 in just 14 minutes. The team says no one in franchise history had topped plus-20 in under 15 minutes. That's a stat you don't see every day, and it tells you how hard this game tilted when Indiana's reserves were out there.

For New York, Breanna Stewart was excellent and it didn't matter. She had 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, eight rebounds and three blocks, and still finished minus-17. Sabrina Ionescu scored 12 with four assists, and Jones had 13 with five turnovers. Johannes went 4 of 11 from three, all of her makes coming before most of the crowd had settled in, and she left early in the fourth with an ankle injury.

The Third Quarter Decided It, the Fourth Rubbed It In

The turning point is not hard to find. It's the moment the Liberty stopped taking care of the ball. New York shot 45% from the field and 41% from three, numbers that can win you a lot of games, but its turnovers became 30 Indiana points. The Fever's own giveaways produced 17 for New York. Indiana also won fast-break points 18-3, which is what happens when a tired team still decides to run.

If the third was the knockout, the fourth was the part where the winner keeps dancing. Clark hit a three off a Mitchell feed at 4:38, then set up Boston for a layup. Mitchell's four-pointer came next, then Cunningham made a 31-footer because why not, and an 11-0 run pushed the margin to 104-80. Indiana won the quarter 33-27, and it was not that close.

Stats That Matter

• 30-12: Indiana's third-quarter edge, per the official line score.
• 30-17: Points off turnovers for the Fever, despite both teams finishing with 17 total turnovers.
• 18-3: Fast-break points. Tired legs were not an issue.
• 14 of 28: Indiana from three, a clean 50% on a back-to-back.
• 10: Indiana's 100-point games this season, already the most such games in franchise history according to the team.

What It Means

Indiana is 16-10 and 10-5 at home after sweeping a home back-to-back, with Connecticut up next on Wednesday. The team also says this was its largest win since 2009 in a game where it trailed by 10 or more. New York beat the Fever 83-75 at home on June 6, so this one squares the matchup at a game apiece.

The Liberty are in real trouble. They fall to 13-12 and 6-7 on the road, losers of four straight, six of seven in the regular season and five straight away from home. They were also playing without Leonie Fiebich (foot) and Satou Sabally (concussion protocol), which explains some of it, but not 30 points off turnovers. They finish a five-game road trip on Monday in Dallas.

The Takeaway

The easy story after a game like Friday's is that a team spends the next night hungover on its own headlines. Indiana did the opposite. The star who made history played like a mortal, her backcourt partner picked up the check, and the reserves helped run a good team out of the building. Sequels are supposed to be worse. Somebody forgot to tell Kelsey Mitchell.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press. Team notes from the Indiana Fever's game recap.