Caitlin Clark, Fever lament officiating in loss to Liberty

INDIANAPOLIS — The defending champion New York Liberty remained unbeaten Saturday at the expense of the Indiana Fever, who were not happy with the officiating over the final 10 seconds.

The Liberty won 90-88 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and had three officiating calls go their way to close the tightly contested affair.

First, New York guard Natasha Cloud blocked a shot by Indiana’s DeWanna Bonner on a play where it appeared there was contact on Bonner, but no foul was called.

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Then, Indiana’s Lexie Hull was called for a foul on the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, whose two free throws provided the winning two-point margin. The Fever had a challenge available but could not use it to contest the call on Hull because they had no timeouts left.

The Fever still had a chance at a final shot, but Cloud knocked the ball away from Fever guard Caitlin Clark, who pleaded for a foul to no avail.

Indiana coach Stephanie White seemed most bothered by the non-call on Bonner’s shot attempt.

“I thought it was egregious, honestly. I thought it was obvious,” White said.

She added that the foul called on Hull: “It was an offensive player veering into the defensive player’s path. We have to be able to play through it. But at the same time, I feel like it’s really disrespectful.

“There’s a system to making sure we can send [concerns about officiating] in and communicate our grievances, so to speak. I don’t know that I ever feel like the system works. We’re not looking for a change, we’re just looking for consistency.”

Clark said she had not seen a replay of the final sequence where she lost the ball vs. Cloud.

“I’d have to go back and watch. … I don’t know,” she said.

But Clark said there was a lot the Fever could learn from their two losses — to Atlanta and New York — by a combined three points.

“That’s probably what’s frustrating about it. … We are two possessions from being 4-0,” Clark said. “But there were so many little areas of this game we could have improved. It definitely stings, but this is what’s going to make us better at the end of the year.”

New York, meanwhile, moves to 3-0 heading into back-to-back home games this week against the expansion Golden State Valkyries. Saturday, the Liberty led by as many as 15 points and trailed by as much as 12, but they executed when they needed to most. Jonquel Jones, last year’s WNBA Finals MVP, led New York with 26 points and 12 rebounds.

“I’m proud of how we hung in there,” New York coach Sandy Brondello said. “We’ve been though some mud before, and it was a muddy game. But we know how to get out of it if we just commit to being consistently great with how we should play. We got it back. We found a way to win. We had good defense near the end.”

The Fever trailed 55-46 at halftime but turned things around in the third quarter, when they outscored the Liberty 30-13. Clark started the game 0-for-7 from 3-point range, going back to Tuesday’s loss to Atlanta, she had missed 14 3-point attempts in a row. But her shooting slump ended with a step-back 3 that resulted in a four-point play with just over a minute left in the quarter. Then Clark closed the third period with another 3, this one from 34 feet, and Indiana had the momentum.

The Fever pushed their edge to 12 points in the fourth quarter but then hit a 4½-minute scoreless skid that allowed the opportunistic Liberty to regain the lead.

Aliyah Boston had 27 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, while Clark had 18 points and 10 assists. But Indiana’s 16 turnovers — 10 by Clark — and the free throw disparity hurt. The Liberty were 25-of-32 from the foul line to Indiana’s 11-of-15.

Last season, the Liberty went 3-1 against the Fever. The teams play three more times: June 14 in Indiana and twice in July in New York.