Fever vs. Storm: Caitlin Clark Scores 32 as Indiana Sets WNBA Record With 12th 100-Point Game of the Season

Aliyah Boston went down hard in the second quarter, left with a lower-leg injury and never came back. A 20-point Indiana lead shrank to two in the third. Natisha Hiedeman was on her way to a career-high 33. If you were ever going to catch this Fever team on a bad night, Tuesday looked like the one.

What happened instead: Caitlin Clark scored 32, Kelsey Mitchell scored 28, and the Indiana Fever beat the Seattle Storm 105-95 at Climate Pledge Arena for a fourth straight win. It was also Indiana's 12th game of 100 or more points this season, a new WNBA single-season record, and it took them all of 28 games to get there. The 2023 Aces needed 40 to reach the old mark of 11.

A Hot Start and a Long Way Down

Indiana scored 37 in the first quarter and was not subtle about it. A 10-0 run took 17-14 to 27-14, an 8-0 run took 29-19 to 37-19, and Sophie Cunningham had all 11 of her points in about three minutes of pure heat. It was 37-20 after one, and the lead got as high as 20.

Then Boston left, and the game changed. An 8-0 Seattle run cut 49-33 to 49-41, and it was 58-47 at the half. The Storm kept coming after the break, scoring nine straight, and Awa Fam's three made it 65-63 with 5:51 left in the third. Eighteen thousand people were suddenly very interested in a team with six wins.

Clark Answered, Mitchell Finished

Clark's response was the kind of thing you'd accuse a video game of cheating for. She scored 16 of Indiana's 18 points in the third quarter. Everyone else on the roster combined for two. It was 76-72 going to the fourth, and it might have been a lot worse without her. She finished 9 of 14 from the field, 4 of 7 from three, a perfect 10 of 10 at the line, with seven assists and four rebounds.

It was the ninth time she's scored 30-plus with five-plus assists, and here is the line that matters: everyone else in Fever history has done that eight times combined. It was also her ninth career 30-point game, which the team says leaves her one behind Tamika Catchings for second-most in franchise history.

Then the fourth quarter was handed to Mitchell, who took it personally. Back-to-back threes in the first 1:25 made it 85-76, and she kept going until she had 18 points in the period. The Fever rank that second on the franchise's single-quarter list, one shy of the 19 she dropped on Connecticut on May 20, 2022. Clark set her up twice inside the final five minutes, and Mitchell's driving layup with 2:10 left is the bucket that got Indiana to 100. She converted the free throw for good measure.

The streaks are getting silly. Mitchell has now scored 20 or more in 12 straight games, a franchise record and a tie for the third-longest run in league history, level with Arike Ogunbowale and Breanna Stewart and one behind Diana Taurasi. She also pushed her own WNBA record to 12 straight games with at least three threes. Monique Billings gave Indiana its other big line, 14 points and 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season in a game where the Fever badly needed bodies inside. Makayla Timpson played 28 minutes and finished plus-14.

Seattle's star was terrific. Hiedeman went 11 of 20, hit six threes on 10 attempts, grabbed six rebounds and did not commit a turnover in 35 minutes. Flau'jae Johnson scored 16, half of them at the line, going 8 of 9 there and 0 of 6 from three before fouling out. Fam added 11 and Zia Cooke 10.

Five Minutes in the Third

The Fever's season has been built on running teams out of the gym, so it's easy to miss how much this one hinged on a stretch where they looked rattled. Boston was gone, a 20-point lead was gone, and a crowd of 18,343 suddenly had something to get excited about. A team that's only good when it's comfortable loses that game to a 6-24 opponent more often than you'd think. Clark took the entire offense on her back for the rest of the period, and Seattle went to the fourth still chasing. By the time Mitchell's threes dropped in the fourth, the Storm had spent everything they had just to get close.

Five Numbers From a Very Strange Box Score

• 26 of 26: Indiana at the line, one make away from the league record for most without a miss.
• 4: Straight games with 100 or more points for the Fever: 110, 108, 123 and now 105.
• 13 of 24 vs. 11 of 34: Threes. Seattle took 10 more and made two fewer, and that's six points of a 10-point final margin.
• 16-6: Seattle's edge in offensive rebounds, on top of 79 shots to Indiana's 64.
• 5 vs. 13: Total turnovers, Storm against Fever. Seattle won the possession battle by a mile and still lost by 10.

Standings and a Question Mark

Indiana is 18-10 and 7-5 on the road, with a fourth straight win and a 3-0 season sweep of Seattle after taking the first two 89-78 and 110-107. The asterisk is Boston, who had 11 points in 11 minutes before she left. The AP reported she did not return but wasn't ruled out, and the Fever will want answers before Friday's trip to Portland.

Seattle falls to 6-24 and 4-11 at home, with a seventh loss in a row. The Storm go to Atlanta on Friday.

Your Subscription Has Been Renewed

The Fever have turned 100 points into a recurring charge. Twelve of 28 games now, four in a row, and like every streaming service you've ever signed up for, it renews automatically and nobody can find the cancel button. The Storm just got billed for the third time this season. Clark and Mitchell combined for 60 with Boston out of the game, in a road gym, on a night that should have been tricky. At this point, the rest of the WNBA might want to read the terms and conditions.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game notes from the Indiana Fever. Context as reported by the Associated Press.