For the Indiana Fever, there was nothing at stake on the last night of the regular WNBA season. Indiana had already secured 6th place in the playoffs and could view the game against the Washington Mystics as more of a warm-up exercise.
For the Mystics, however, a win was crucial to keep their playoff chances alive. Not only did Washington need to win, but the Chicago Sky also needed to beat the Connecticut Sun and the Atlanta Dream needed to lose to the New York Liberty.
A WNBA-record crowd of 20,711 watched the Mystics defeat the Fever 92-91 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC as the home team battled for the WNBA’s final playoff spot and Clark played her final regular season game.
Unfortunately, one point out of three was not enough. The Mystics tried their best and won their game, but Sky lost to Sun and Dream beat Liberty.
Washington took an 82-66 lead into the third quarter, but the Fever did not enter the playoffs calmly. Indiana rallied in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Mystics 25-10 and giving itself a chance to win the game. Kristy Wallace made a layup with 1:12 left to cut the Fever deficit to one point, but Katie Lou Samuelson and Grace Berger missed long jump shots in the final seconds that could have decided the game.
In her final rookie game of the regular season, Caitlin Clark had eight points (tying her WNBA rookie record), five rebounds and eight assists (tying her season record). Wallace led the Fever with 17 points off the bench, hitting 3 of 4 three-pointers. NaLyssa Smith added 16 points and five rebounds. Samuelson and Aliyah Boston each scored 10 points.
Clark made two three-pointers, giving her 122 this season. She surpassed Diana Taurasi, who had the second-most three-pointers made in a WNBA season. The record is held by Sabrina Ionescu with 128, set last season.
With her second 3PM of the game, Caitlin Clark now has 122 on the year, giving her the second-most in a single season in WNBA history, surpassing Diana Taurasi’s 121 3PM in 2006 (34 games into the season). Sabrina Ionescu’s 128 in 2023 are the league record pic.twitter.com/0kKlWuaEQT
— WNBA (@WNBA) 19 September 2024
Indiana finished the season 20-20 and 8-12 on the road. The Mystics are 14-26 and 5-15 at home. Washington finished the season one game behind the Dream (15-25) and finished in the 8th and final playoff spot.
Sika Koné was the Mystics’ top scorer with 20 points and seven rebounds. Ariel Atkins (with 5 of 7 three-pointers) and Emily Engstler both scored 17 points, while Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Brittney Sykes followed with 12 points each.
The Fever will face the No. 3 seed Sun (28-12) in the first round of the WNBA playoffs, which begin Sunday. Game 1 of the best-of-3 series begins at 3 p.m. ET.
