Caitlin Clark returned to the court from an injury scare on Monday, but her Indiana Fever fell short in an 88-84 thriller against the Connecticut Sun.
Clark rolled her left ankle in the second quarter. The Fever went into halftime with a 44-41 lead despite Clark’s absence for the final 5:32 of the half. Clark returned in the third quarter and helped the Fever rally from a nine-point second-half deficit. But the Sun capitalized on multiple Clark mistakes down the stretch that helped secure the win.
Clark finished with 17 points, five assists and five turnovers and remains in search of her first WNBA win since being selected first overall in April’s draft. The Sun, meanwhile, improved to 3-0 behind strong efforts from Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner.
Clark left Monday’s game midway through the second quarter with what looked at the time like an ankle injury. She rolled her left ankle in the second quarter while on defense and fell to the court. She immediately grabbed her ankle and eventually stood up in obvious pain.
She then limped to the sideline and left for the Fever locker room with a trainer.
Clark returned to the bench before the end of the first half, and her limp was gone. She didn’t return to the court before halftime, but sat on the sideline while stretching her ankle with a band. She’d posted eight points, two rebounds and two turnovers and shot 2 of 6 from the field prior to her turnover.
She returned to the lineup for the start of the third quarter. The Sun opened the half with a 19-7 run to turn their three-point halftime deficit into a 60-51 advantage. The Fever cut their deficit to 64-61 by the end of the third quarter and retook the lead at 65-64 early in the fourth.
After failing to record an assist through the first three quarters, Clark assisted on three straight fourth-quarter buckets as the Fever mounted a rally. Then with 7:16 remaining, she pulled up for a logo 3-pointer to retake the lead at 70-68.
It was a taut back-and-forth game from there that ultimately saw the Sun prevail when Tyasha Harris broke an 84-84 tie with free throws with 11.3 seconds remaining.
This story will be updated.
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