Caitlin Clark scored 19 points and made a game-winning 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left as the visiting Indiana Fever defeated the Washington Mystics 78-76 on Monday night.
Kelsey Mitchell scored 15 points and Aliyah Boston had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Fever (6-5, 2-1 Commissioner’s Cup).
Michaela Onyenwere scored 17 points, Georgia Amoore and Sonia Citron each had 12 and Shakira Austin added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Mystics (4-6, 1-2 Commissioner’s Cup).
Citron made a 3-pointer to become the sixth Mystic to score during the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, pulling Washington within 69-67. Boston converted back-to-back field goals to increase the lead to six points.
Onyenwere made a 3-pointer and two free throws, and Austin’s layup nudged Washington in front, 74-73. Clark missed two free throws, but Boston made a steal and Clark fed Mitchell for a layup that gave the Fever a 75-74 lead with 11.3 seconds left.
Citron made two free throws to put the Mystics back on top by one with 4.3 seconds left, but that left enough time for Clark’s heroic 32-footer and Washington didn’t get a shot off after that.
Monique Billings made a layup to start the third-quarter scoring and Clark added a four-point play to increase the Fever’s lead to 49-32.
Lauren Betts made a short jumper and two layups as the Mystics crept within 51-44. They got within seven points a second time before Mitchell made a jumper and Sophie Cunningham added a 3-pointer to push the lead to 12.
Amoore’s 3-pointer completed a 7-0 run for Washington, which got within 60-53 at the end of the period.
Clark scored seven of Indiana’s first 14 points, including the first of her four 3-pointers, as the Fever established a 14-7 lead. Onyenwere made two free throws to pull the Mystics within 21-16 at the end of the first quarter.
The margin grew to nine before Citron made a 3-pointer for Washington’s first points of the period, but that would be the team’s only field goal for nearly 4 1/2 minutes.
Lexie Hull hit a 3-pointer and Mitchell aded a jumper and a 3-pointer as Indiana expanded the lead to 33-20. Cotie McMahon’s layup ended the Mystics’ field-goal drought, but the Fever scored the next five points for a 15-point lead.
Back-to-back layups by former Mystic Myisha Hines-Allen and Mitchell helped the Fever take a 43-29 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
