Kelsey Mitchell had 32 points and seven assists as the visiting Indiana Fever overcame the absence of Caitlin Clark to defeat the Dallas Wings 94-86 on Friday night.
Aliyah Boston scored 21, Natasha Howard had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Aari McDonald scored 13 for the Fever (8-8), who improved to 3-4 overall without Clark as she missed her second consecutive game due to a left groin injury.
Paige Bueckers scored 27, Arike Ogunbowale had 15 and Aziaha James added 14 to lead the Wings (4-13).
Bueckers scored the first six points and NaLyssa Smith scored the last five as the Wings started the third quarter with a 16-6 run that got them within 62-59.
Sophie Cunningham stopped the run by making a 3-pointer and Boston added two field goals to help the Fever rebuild the lead to nine.. Ogunbowale scored four points and James had the final two to help Dallas get within 74-69 at the end of the third quarter.
Bueckers made a jumper and a 3-pointer and assisted on JJ Quinerly’s three-point play to give the Wings, who trailed by as many as 23 points, their only lead of the game, 80-79, midway through the fourth quarter.
Mitchell answered with a 3-pointer, a layup and an assist to direct a 12-2 run that gave Indiana a 91-82 lead with 2:24 remaining.
Mitchell was hot at the game’s outset, too. She scored five points and McDonald had four as the Fever raced to a 16-2 lead. Bueckers made a free throw to stop a 14-0 run, but Boston had five points to help Indiana expand its lead to 24-5.
The Fever held a 33-13 lead after a first quarter in which they made 13-of-17 shots from the floor while the Wings made 5 of 19.
When McDonald cashed a layup at the 6:45 mark of the second quarter, Indiana built a 43-20 lead. Li Yueru answered with a layup and a 3-pointer to pull Dallas within 47-32. The Wings finally got closer than 15 when Bueckers made a steal and beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from several feet beyond the arc to get them within 56-43 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
