SEATTLE (AP) — The decisive losses Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever endured to start the WNBA season were easier to handle than the last two setbacks that were decided by a total of six points.
Jewell Loyd scored 21 of her 32 points in the first half, Sami Whitcomb scored all 10 of her points in the fourth quarter, and the Seattle Storm held off Clark and the Fever 85-83 on Wednesday night, two days after Indiana’s 88-84 loss to the Connecticut Sun.
“These two definitely hurt the most. We’re what, six points away from being 2-3 instead of 0-5,” Clark said. “It’s just that close and there’s so many instances going back and watching the film and little things you can easily fix and clean up that would go a really long way.”
Loyd, last year’s leading scorer in the WNBA, shook off a sluggish start to the season to post the 22nd 30-point game of her career. Loyd and Whitcomb combined for 18 of Seattle’s 27 points in the fourth quarter, and the Storm (2-3) needed all those points to hold off a late rally and keep the Fever (0-5) winless.
“I just kind of cleared my head. I was in a good headspace coming into today’s game. ... I just kind of reset and changed my routine a little bit and then caught a little rhythm,” Loyd said.
Clark finished with a team-high 21 points two days after rolling her left ankle in the home loss to Connecticut. She struggled early against Seattle, but sparked a third-quarter rally and helped give the Fever a 60-58 lead going into the fourth.
It was a stretch where she looked like the Clark everyone came to know collegiately at Iowa when she was the national player of the year.
“It’s still a process of learning when to be assertive,” Clark said. “Sometimes it’s hard when you start off a little bit cold.”
