The Indiana Fever are getting better at playing without injured All-Star point guard Caitlin Clark.
They’ll try to strengthen their playoff position when they face the struggling Dallas Wings on Tuesday night at Indianapolis.
The Fever (18-14) have won six of their last eight games and are coming off a 92-70 home victory against Chicago on Saturday. Clark is expected to miss her 11th consecutive game because of a right groin injury and no timetable has been established for her return.
The victory against the Sky came in Indiana’s first game since losing fellow guards Aari McDonald (foot) and Sydney Colson (knee) to season-ending injuries. All-Star Kelsey Mitchell moved to point guard and had 26 points, a season-high eight assists and just one turnover.
“I think this is the most resilient team I’ve ever been a part of, and I say that wholeheartedly,” Mitchell said. “We’ve had a lot of mishaps happen throughout the course of the season.”
Mitchell, 29, said she hadn’t played point guard since college at Ohio State, but she is likely to continue to have the ball in her hands until Clark returns.
“I believe in my team, and my assist total went up because of them,” Mitchell said. “We have an unbelievable chemistry when it comes to seeing and reading each other.”
Lexie Hull, who had not made 50 percent of her shots in her previous 10 games, made 5 of 9, including 4 of 6 3-pointers, while scoring 17 against Chicago.
“She always does the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet,” Fever coach Stephanie White said of Hull, “but when she’s knocking down shots, we’re a different team.”
The Wings (8-24) remain near the bottom of the WNBA and have lost their last five games. Rookie guard Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 overall draft pick, played through a muscle strain in her back to lead her team with 17 points in a 91-78 home loss to Washington on Sunday. She is listed as probable for Tuesday’s game.
“I think we’re all frustrated with losing,” Bueckers said. “We have to continue to stay together during the tough times. We’ve talked about it enough. We have to put action behind our words.”
Dallas had a 41-30 halftime lead against the Mystics, but got outscored 33-17 in the third quarter and 28-20 in the fourth.
“We have to put 40 minutes together,” Wings coach Chris Koclanes said. “We’ve got to find a way to sustain. It takes discipline and consistency.”
–Field Level Media
