Valkyries vs. Fever: Veronica Burton's 25 and Five Blocks Hold Off Caitlin Clark in 90-88 Thriller

For most of Thursday night, the loudest sound at Chase Center was booing. Caitlin Clark touched the ball, the sellout crowd let her hear about it, and the cycle repeated for 29 minutes. Then the last 16 seconds arrived, the Indiana Fever needed one bucket, and the whole building switched from heckling to holding its breath.

Aliyah Boston got the ball twice with a chance to tie. Both times, Kiah Stokes got in the way. The Golden State Valkyries survived 90-88, avenging last Friday's 90-82 loss in Indianapolis behind 25 points and a career-high five blocks from Veronica Burton, in a game that made a six-day-old grudge feel like a real rivalry.

Nine Lead Changes and Zero Oxygen

Golden State set the terms early. Burton had eight points and two blocks in the first quarter, including a coast-to-coast and-one followed immediately by a stop on Clark at the other end, which is about as rude as an opening act gets. Indiana missed its first eight 3-pointers, and the Valkyries led 21-14 after one.

The Fever answered with a 30-point second quarter that tied it at 44 by the break, and they did it while making just 3 of 12 from deep. Indiana edged ahead 67-65 after three. That is when the night got good.

Golden State scored eight straight early in the fourth, turning a 69-67 deficit into a 75-69 lead by the 6:46 mark. Clark, who had been wrestling with her shot all game, buried a 23-footer with 3:55 left to make it 81-80, and Boston's 13-foot turnaround gave Indiana the lead on the next trip. From there, the teams passed it back and forth like a hot phone: Burton at the line for 83-82, Lexie Hull's pull-up for 84-83, Janelle Salaun at the line for 85-84. Salaun's 14-footer with 1:48 left made it 87-84, and Indiana never led again.

Burton Filled Every Column

Burton's line reads like two players shared one jersey. She scored 25 on 7-of-13 shooting, went 10-for-12 at the line and grabbed six rebounds. The points were a season best, eight more than she managed against this same team last week. The five blocks put her in very small company, since the team says only she and Stokes have a five-block game in the league this season.

"Yeah, I think we were super intentional about how we were coming out and not waiting for them to punch first or waiting for things to happen," Burton said.

Salaun was the night's best subplot, with 19 off the bench on 7-of-12 shooting, three 3s and seven rebounds. She also scored six straight Golden State points in the last 2:20, flipping an 84-83 deficit into an 89-84 cushion. Gabby Williams handled everything else, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals, and her feed set up Salaun's layup with 31.3 seconds to go.

Clark's line of 16 points, six assists and four rebounds looks fine until you see how she got there. She went 3-for-12 and needed 8-for-8 at the line to reach 16, her first game under 20 this season after arriving at 23.8 per game. Her second half was five points on 1-of-6 shooting. Add the 3-for-14 she posted in her last appearance here, an 88-77 loss last June, and Chase Center is starting to feel like a personal problem. Raven Johnson matched her with 16 off the bench on 7-of-10 shooting, and Kelsey Mitchell scored 14 with five fouls.

Ninety Seconds That Flipped It

Indiana trailed 87-84 with plenty of time to fix it. Instead, Clark coughed it up with 1:32 left, coughed it up again with 1:06 left and missed a 3 with 40 seconds left. The Fever went from 2:37 all the way to 24.8 seconds without a point, and Salaun's running layup on the other end made it a five-point game.

Even that nearly wasn't enough. Mitchell's two free throws and Sophie Cunningham's uncontested layup off a Clark pass cut it to 89-88 with 17.6 seconds left. Williams split a pair at 16.3. Boston's first try, challenged by Stokes and Kaila Charles, ended in a jump ball with 1.2 seconds showing. Indiana controlled the tip, took a timeout with 0.6 remaining and went right back to Boston. Stokes again. Short again. Bedlam.

Stats That Matter

• Blocks: Golden State 11, Indiana 5. Those 11 set a franchise high, and the team says no WNBA club has blocked more in a game this season. Stokes had four to go with Burton's five.
• Points off turnovers: Indiana 15, Golden State 8. Both teams had 11 turnovers, and the Fever got far more out of them. They still lost.
• Shooting: Golden State 46%, Indiana 41%. The Valkyries took five fewer shots and made one more.
• Free throws: Golden State 20-of-28, Indiana 19-of-21. The Fever were much cleaner, yet Golden State's extra trips still got it one more point at the line.

Best Record in the Building

Golden State is 5-2, which the team notes is tied for the best record in the WNBA, with two straight wins and a 3-1 mark at home. The crowd of 18,064 was its 28th consecutive sellout. Indiana falls to 4-3 with a three-game winning streak gone, and the season series now sits at 1-1.

The Valkyries host Las Vegas on Sunday. The Fever visit Portland on Saturday, presumably somewhere quieter.

Better Than the Original

Clark said before tipoff that she had moved on from last week's exchange with Tiffany Hayes, who played five minutes here and collected three fouls. Chase Center had not moved on from anything, and Natalie Nakase's group fed off that all night.

"The ebbs and flows of the game, we stuck together. We stayed composed, I thought everyone did their role tonight and everyone gave max effort," Nakase said.

Most sequels are a cash grab. This one had a louder crowd, a better ending and a supporting actor in Stokes who stole the final scene twice.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press. Postgame quotes and team notes from the Golden State Valkyries.