It was an uphill battle for Fever rookie Caitlin Clark in a loss to the Aces on Wednesday.
The All-Star guard took an inadvertent elbow to the face by Las Vegas guard Jackie Young in the third quarter and struggled with turnovers while failing to find her rhythm from 3-point range.
It was a physical battle at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, especially in the second half when Clark and Young got tangled up under the basket.
Clark missed a layup and and her arm unintentionally hit Young in the face on her way — and then Young inadvertently elbowed Clark in the face while defending her.
Both players fell to the ground and grabbed their faces while the referee looked on.
Clark confronted the referee after the collision, but the call remained a common foul against Young, and was not escalated to a flagrant 1.
Clark went 1-for-10 from deep and turned the ball over five times.
She finished with 16 points on 6 of 22 shooting overall for the Fever, who clinched a WNBA playoff spot last week.
Clark called out the offensive fouls and said they were “surprising at times” in her postgame press conference.
“I do feel like I get held and get quite a bit of contact throughout the game… it is what it is… I can use my quickness a little bit better,” Clark said.
Aces forward A’ja Wilson broke the WNBA’s single-season points record after scoring her 956th point, which surpassed previous record holder Seattle Storm guard Jewell Lloyd.
The former WNBA MVP and the Aces are chasing a three-peat after beating the Sun and the Liberty in the finals in 2022 and ’23, respectively.
Indiana (19-18) clinched a spot in the WNBA playoffs for the first time since 2016 thanks to the the Aces’ 90-71 victory over the Sky — and Phoenix’s 74-66 win against Atlanta last week.
Las Vegas secured a postseason spot last month after defeating the Dream.
The Fever face the Aces (23-13) again at home in Indiana on Friday.
After that, they have two games left in the regular season against the Wings on Sept. 15 and the Mystics, Sept. 19.
