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The Indiana Fever’s first game without Caitlin Clark didn’t go great Wednesday night and the Washington Mystics, despite entering the game on a three-game losing skid, took full advantage.
The Mystics pushed ahead in the final quarter to grab an 83-77 win over the Fever at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore. The game was the first one the Fever have played since Clark went down with a quad injury.
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The Fever announced Monday that Clark would miss at least two weeks with a left quad strain. It’s unclear when Clark first sustained the injury, though it’s reportedly a new one for her. She played 37 minutes in their loss to the New York Liberty on Saturday, and seemed fine health-wise during that contest.
Clark will miss at least three more games with the injury. Remarkably, Wednesday’s game was the first regular-season contest that Clark missed since 2017 when she was a sophomore in high school in West Des Moines, Iowa. If her timeline still holds, Clark could return for the Fever’s matchup with the Atlanta Dream on June 10.
Clark has averaged 19 points, 9.3 assists and six rebounds through four games this season, her second in the league.
Despite not playing, Clark appeared to be in a great mood at CFG Bank Arena. She signed autographs for fans ahead of the game and walked around with a camera taking photos of everyone during warmups. She sat on the bench near her coaches during the game, and played an active role in what was going on.
She didn’t hesitate to talk up the officials as the Fever made their way into the locker room down by four points at the break, either.
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The Mystics pushed their lead to seven points at the end of the third quarter. They held the Fever to just 13 points and five field goals in the period. Though Indiana opened the final quarter hot and cut the game to just four points right away, the Mystics responded with a trio of quick layups from rookie Kiki Iriafen to regain control immediately. Shakira Austin came up with a huge block on Aliyah Boston a few minutes later.
From there, Washington held the Fever to two field goals the rest of the way — one of which was a buzzer-beater from DeWanna Bonner — en route to the six-point win.
Bonner led the Mystics with 21 points off the bench. She hit a major career milestone during the victory. Bonner became the first player in league history to reach 7,500 points, 3,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists. Kelsey Mitchell added 14 points, and Natasha Howard finished with 11 points and six rebounds. The Fever shot just 4-of-19 from the 3-point line, and Sydney Colson, who entered the starting lineup in Clark’s place, was held to four points.
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Brittney Sykes led the Mystics with 21 points and nine rebounds in the win, which brought them to 3-3 on the year. Iriafen finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Austin added 13 off the bench.
Though it doesn’t sound like Clark’s injury is too serious, the Fever will undoubtedly be in a much better position with her at full strength. Wednesday night’s outing in Baltimore was a perfect example of that.
