INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever lost their third game of the season against Las Vegas, falling to the Aces 86-75 on Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Fever are now 19-18 and still ranked No. 6 in the WNBA standings. Indiana has one last chance against the Aces on Friday.
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Fever still can’t beat Aces
The only team that hasn’t beaten Indiana at least once this season is Las Vegas, and that won’t happen for at least two more days. Indiana has avoided losses to all of the league’s top teams, including New York, Connecticut and Seattle.
On Friday, the Fever have another chance to beat the Aces as the two return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for a rematch.
However, Indiana’s victory over the top teams only came in the last game of the series – in the fourth and final meeting of the teams, Indiana defeated New York as well as Connecticut and Seattle.
What the Aces did to beat them will still be with them when they play on Friday.
Foul problems throw Fever offense off track
The Fever started strong – they began the game with a 7-0 run and frustrated Aces coach Becky Hammon so much that she called a timeout 36 seconds into the game. That’s when leading MVP candidate A’ja Wilson found her chance. Wilson scored the Aces’ first eight points of the game and brought Las Vegas back into the game.
Afterwards, Lexie Hull got into foul trouble.
Hull picked up two fouls in the first quarter – both of which were fouls against Las Vegas’ forwards. She was briefly subbed out and continued playing in the second quarter until she picked up her third foul at the 6:15 mark, officially putting her in foul trouble.
Coach Christie Sides wanted to rest Hull for the second half, so she replaced her with Kristy Wallace for the rest of the first half. Wallace, who has started 15 games this season, has spent most of her time on the bench, especially since the Olympic break. Before Wednesday night, the last time Wallace played a few minutes was July 6, when she played six minutes against the New York Liberty.
Wallace ended up playing just four minutes – Kelsey Mitchell came on for her after about two minutes and Katie Lou Samuelson finished the half in fourth place.
Indiana’s rotations looked out of shape with Hull on the bench due to foul trouble, which resulted in them hitting just 32% of their shots from the field overall in the first half. Hull played just 10 minutes in the first half, and the Fever’s defense suffered; Las Vegas hit 43% of their shots from the field and 45% of their 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.
Aliyah Boston sits most of the time in fourth place due to foul problems
Hull did not receive another foul until the fourth quarter, but another key starter had to sit on the bench at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Center Aliyah Boston, who dominated the boards with 10 points in the first three quarters as a sophomore, was cautioned for the fifth time with a minute to go in the third quarter. Indiana initially contested the call (a little late by Las Vegas standards, which earned Hammon a technical foul), but was unsuccessful.
So Boston benched Temi Fagbenle and replaced Katie Lou Samuelson, who took the No. 5 spot. Fagbenle is also a good rebounder, grabbing two in the opening minutes of the first quarter. But the Fever lacked Boston’s size in the box in the final minutes of the game, as she was usually the one battling Wilson down low.
Boston finally came back about two minutes into the fourth quarter, but committed its sixth foul against Wilson just a minute later.
How many points did Caitlin Clark score against the Aces?
Caitlin Clark scored 16 points on 6 of 22 shooting, along with three rebounds and five assists. Clark is now just six assists away from the WNBA season record.
Clark also left the game for about two minutes in the first quarter, leaving the bench entirely to return to the locker room. She quickly returned and got back into the game with no issues.
