Fever vs. Mercury: Kelsey Mitchell's Layup With 10.1 Seconds Left Caps a 29-Point Night in Phoenix

Sixteen lead changes. Five separate runs of nine or more points. One team playing its second game in two nights without its most famous player, and another that had a 10-point lead with five and a half minutes to go. Thursday night in Phoenix had no business being decided by anything other than a layup in the final seconds, and it wasn't.

Kelsey Mitchell got to the rim with 10.1 seconds left, finished off a 29-point night, and the Indiana Fever beat the Phoenix Mercury 92-89 in front of 17,071 at Mortgage Matchup Center. Caitlin Clark watched from the bench in street clothes, resting a lingering back injury one night after she played 16 minutes in Los Angeles. Indiana found a way anyway.

A Game That Kept Changing Its Mind

The Fever opened by shooting the lights out. They made 6 of 10 threes in the first quarter, from four different players, which the team says is tied for the second-most in a quarter in franchise history. A 9-0 run early and a 26-14 lead later had Phoenix on its heels, though Monique Akoa Makani's late three-pointer and three free throws at the end of the quarter trimmed it to 28-24.

Phoenix flipped everything in the second. The Mercury shot 21 of 38 and 8 of 14 from three in the half, Kahleah Copper got rolling, and an 11-0 run straddling the break turned a 47-44 Indiana lead into a 55-47 hole. Alyssa Thomas stretched that to 59-49 early in the third.

Then Indiana's defense woke up. The Fever forced four straight turnovers, all on steals, and ran off 13 in a row, with Aliyah Boston scoring seven of them and capping it with a three for a 62-59 lead. Mitchell scored five straight of her own to make it 69-65 late in the quarter.

And then the Fever stopped scoring for more than six minutes. Copper's three started a 14-0 Phoenix run that carried into the fourth, with Marta Suarez hitting back-to-back shots and Thomas scoring for a 79-69 lead at the 5:36 mark. On the second night of a back-to-back, this is usually the part where the tired team folds.

The 11-0 That Saved the Night

Sophie Cunningham, who spent six seasons in Phoenix, ended the drought with a 26-footer on the run at 4:55. Mitchell hit from 26 feet herself at 4:24. Tyasha Harris fed both of those shots and then took over, knocking down a fadeaway at 3:43 and a three at 3:14 for an 80-79 lead. That was an 11-0 run in just 1:41, and it turned a game that was slipping into a coin flip.

The last three minutes were absurd. DeWanna Bonner hit a three. Boston scored. Copper scored. Harris tied it on a drive at 1:14 and gave Indiana the lead with a pull-up at 44.9. Copper answered with a three-point play at 41.4 for an 87-86 Phoenix lead. Boston's turnaround made it 88-87. Thomas scored inside at 25.1 for an 89-88 Mercury edge. Then Mitchell put her head down, drove and finished for a 90-89 lead. Cunningham hit two free throws with four seconds left, and Copper's 28-foot try at the end missed.

Mitchell's Numbers Keep Getting Sillier

Mitchell's final line had 29 points on 10-of-22 shooting, 6 of 6 at the line, eight assists, three steals and no turnovers in 35 minutes. Per the team, it was her 37th consecutive double-digit scoring game, tying Tamika Catchings for the franchise record, and it stretched her own franchise record to five straight games of 25 or more. With three threes, she also pulled even with Katie Douglas for seventh on the WNBA's career three-point list at 727.

Boston, who sat out Wednesday's loss with a right leg injury, came back with 21 points and nine rebounds and went 3 of 5 from three. Harris was the night's secret weapon: 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting with five assists, including nine points in the game's final 3:43. Cunningham finished with nine and Lexie Hull with 10.

Phoenix got 22 apiece from Thomas and Copper, and Thomas added seven assists and six rebounds. Akoa Makani scored 14 without missing a three, and Suarez gave the Mercury 10 in just 11 minutes. It was a good enough offensive night to win most games.

One Attempt Apart

• 25-9: Indiana's edge in points off turnovers, the widest gap in a game that was otherwise a mirror.
• 35 of 70 vs. 35 of 71: Field goals. Identical makes, one attempt apart.
• 10 of 10: Indiana at the free-throw line. Phoenix went 8 of 10, and the final margin was three.
• 12 of 27 vs. 11 of 27: Three-point shooting, close enough to prove the point.
• 42-32: Phoenix's paint advantage, the one place it clearly won.

A Split for Indiana, a Skid for Phoenix

Indiana goes to 13-9 and 5-5 on the road, salvaging a split of the back-to-back after Wednesday's 106-92 loss to the Sparks. The Fever also took the season series with Phoenix 2-1, closing a run of three meetings that started with a pair of prickly games in Indianapolis last month and ended here with the shot-making doing all the talking. They visit Las Vegas on Sunday.

Phoenix drops to 8-15 and a rough 3-8 at home, with two straight losses after falling 77-66 to Chicago on Tuesday. The Mercury also head to Las Vegas, on Saturday.

Nobody Gets to Leave Early

The plot twists in this one would've been rejected in a writers' room as too much. A team goes up 12, falls behind by 10, takes the lead, falls behind by 10 again and wins on a layup with 10 seconds left, all without its biggest name. Hull, Harris and Cunningham were all a big part of it. But when you've got one possession and a one-point deficit, you already know where the ball's going. Thirty-seven straight games in double figures, five straight with 25 or more. The most reliable thing in Indiana isn't a secret, and it still worked.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press via WNBA.com and the Indiana Fever.