Caitlin Clark leads Fever towards upstart Valkyries

Jun 19, 2025 05:56 AM IST BASKETBALL-WNBA-UNK-IND/PREVIEW Caitlin Clark makes her first look in San Francisco when the Indiana Fever tip off a three-game Western swing with a matchup towards the growth Golden State Valkyries on Thursday night time. HT Image The second-year celebrity begins the journey in effective kind. In her first two video games again since getting back from a strained left quad damage, Clark contributed 32 factors, 9 assists and eight rebounds in a 102-88 win over the New York Liberty and adopted up with 20 factors, six assists and two steals in an 88-71 victory over the Connecticut Sun. Clark has shot 11-for-20 on 3-pointers since her return, enhancing her season numbers to 22 threes and 40 % accuracy past the arc in her six video games. In the Valkyries, Clark and the Fever encounter a crew that has allowed simply 34.1 % capturing from deep and simply 9.0 3-pointers per recreation. In profitable its final two dwelling video games, Golden State restricted the Liberty and Seattle Storm to a complete of 14-for-51 on 3-pointers. With Clark going 4-for-6, the Fever drained 11 of 26 from downtown on Tuesday of their testy dwelling win over the Sun. Clark bought nailed with a technical foul and teammate Sophie Cunningham was later ejected for a flagrant foul in a recreation marred by a number of incidents. Afterward, Indiana coach Stephanie White insisted: “Everybody is getting better, except the officials.” “I started talking to the officials in the first quarter,” White stated. “We knew this was going to happen. You could tell it was going to happen. So they’ve got to get control of it. They’ve got to be better.” While the Fever had been surviving a tough win over the Sun, the Valkyries had been watching a three-game profitable streak come to an finish in an 80-71 street loss to the Dallas Wings. Reigning WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week Kayla Thornton had 17 factors within the defeat. Golden State was with out 4 gamers who’ve left the crew briefly to play within the EuroBasket match. The Valkyries have signed free brokers to fill roster spots, together with Wednesday’s addition of Bree Hall, a two-time NCAA champion at South Carolina who started the season within the Fever’s coaching camp. Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase performed simply eight girls within the loss at Dallas. She got here away considering her crew had worn down in a good recreation. “The epitome of who we are is literally a defensive-minded team that loves to be physical, disrupt, pressure, take away the top scorers,” she stated. “But if you don’t have any effort, then that kind of becomes irrelevant. You can have an amazing game plan, but if we’re not committed to the effort and the physicality … we’re not going to win games that way.” Field Level Media This article was generated from an automatic information company feed with out modifications to textual content.