– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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INDIANAPOLIS — With the moves that the Indiana Fever made in the offseason that signaled their intent to become a force in the WNBA for the foreseeable future, the hope was that their chance to play for titles would come immediately after the historic rookie season that Caitlin Clark authored just a few months prior. After tonight, the Fever officially clinched their first opportunity to fight for a title — and fight was definitely the operative word after their latest victory.
Clark continued to not miss a beat after coming back from her quadriceps injury, scoring 20 points with six assists in just 29 minutes as the Fever defeated the Connecticut Sun 88-71 inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the final game of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup round robin stage. Natasha Howard posted her 50th career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds as the Fever never trailed.
Indiana’s win, along with the New York Liberty’s defeat of the Atlanta Dream clinched the Fever’s spot in the Commissioner’s Cup championship game on July 1, which will be the first trophy the franchise will compete for since losing the decisive fifth game of the 2015 WNBA Finals, back when current head coach Stephanie White, hired away from Connecticut this past offseason, was in the middle of her first stint in charge with the Fever.
The Fever will take on the defending Commissioner’s Cup title holders, the Minnesota Lynx, after they defeated the Las Vegas Aces later in the evening to clinch their spot as the Western Conference representative.
Emotions boiled over midway through the third quarter, when Clark was fouled by Sun guard Jacy Sheldon, whose caught Clark across the face in an attempt to swipe at the ball. Clark and Sheldon, who were rivals in college when the former was at Iowa and the latter at Ohio State, came together again when Sheldon bumped Clark after the foul and Clark shoved back. Then Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey came from behind and bumped Clark down to the court, bringing both sets of players together in a scuffle.
Clark received a technical, while Sheldon, along with getting a technical foul, saw her initial foul upgraded to a flagrant 1. Mabrey and Tina Charles were also assesses technical fouls in the incident.
Before that, Indiana has established control of the game in the second quarter when it shot 50 percent from the field and held the Sun to 5-for-15 shooting. Clark had nine points and three assists in the frame, while backcourt mate Kelsey Mitchell scored eight.
Right before the end of the game, things got heated one more time when Sophia Cunningham wrapped up Sheldon on a drive to the basket and brought her to the ground, after which Sheldon got up from the floor and proceeded to shove Cunningham as the teams came together underneath the basket. Cunningham was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and was ejected, while Sheldon was assessed her second technical foul for her part and was also ejected.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 15 pictures in total.
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