Caitlin Clark dropped a vintage performance against the Washington Mystics in the second half on Friday to force overtime. Entering this contest, a lot was made about her off-shooting as she was 3-for-16 from deep to start the 2026 WNBA season. However, she turned it around, making seven on 17 attempts against the Mystics.
Caitlin Clark stats tonight: Here’s how Fever star fared in Fever’s matchup against the Mystics
Clark started slowly on Friday. In the first half, Clark had six points on 2 of 10 shots. However, both her shots came from deep. Through the third quarter, Clark missed four more shots, going 2-for-14.
Nevertheless, all it took her was to see another shot fall for an avalanche of buckets in the fourth. Clark made consecutive 3-pointers to start the final quarter, trimming Washington’s lead to five. Washington had led by 14 at one point.
Clark hit three more shots from deep, including the one to force overtime and finish with 28 points to end the regulation period. She added six assists and four rebounds. In the fourth alone, Clark had 17 points and two assists on 6 of 8 shots, including 5 of 7 from deep.
Caitlin Clark began overtime with a couple of layups to add four more points to her box score. However, she missed her two attempts from deep. The Fever came close to completing the comeback, but fell short by two points in the clutch. Kelsey Mitchell missed the game-winning 3-point attempt and Indiana lost 104-102.
Caitlin Clark’s final statline:
32 points, four rebounds, eight assists, two steals, one block, four turnovers, 10-of-28 field goals, 7-of-17 3-pointers, 5-of-5 free throws, +/- +14.
Caitlin Clark reveals what Fever must do to win in the clutch
The Indiana Fever have played nearly all of their three games in the clutch thus far. They lost the opening night battle to the Dallas Wings 107-104 in regulation. In their second game, the Fever almost blew a 16-point fourth-quarter lead against the Los Angeles Sparks, but held on to win 87-78.
On Friday, they lost again, dropping to 1-2. Caitlin Clark pointed out that the biggest gap for the Fever when things aren’t going well is maintaining their defense.
“Our biggest room for improvement is when things aren’t going well, we still need to be able to defend and get stops,” Clark said.
The Fever have struggled to limit offenses. It’s a common theme in all three games. Aliyah Boston and Lexie Hull’s minute restrictions have contributed to that. Boston’s rim protection is second to none on the Fever, while Hull’s perimeter defense can be as good as anyone on her day.
