Mitchell Scores 29, Clark Adds 24 as Fever Beat Tempo 101-95
Indiana won its fifth straight game despite Kelsey Mitchell sitting out the fourth quarter after overheating.
Kelsey Mitchell scored 16 points in the first quarter and finished with 29 before sitting out the fourth, while Caitlin Clark added 24 points as the Indiana Fever beat the Toronto Tempo 101-95 on Tuesday for their fifth straight victory.
Clark and Mitchell have each scored 20 or more points in the same game 16 times this season, a WNBA record, surpassing Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter's mark of 15 with Phoenix in 2008.
Mitchell also scored 20 or more points for the 20th consecutive game, matching Las Vegas' A'ja Wilson for the longest such streak in WNBA history. But after scoring eight points in less than a minute late in the third quarter, she went to the locker room and did not return. Fever coach Stephanie White said Mitchell got "overheated."
Aliyah Boston scored 16 points, and Sophie Cunningham made all three of her 3-point attempts, finishing with 13, for the Fever, who never trailed. Indiana has won 10 of its last 12 games.
Toronto's Marina Mabrey cut the deficit to 97-93 with back-to-back 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter, but the Tempo got no closer. Mabrey finished with 22 points and Brittney Sykes had 15 in her return from injury, but the slumping Tempo lost their 11th straight game.
In the Fever's first visit to Toronto this season, fans offered a mix of cheers and boos when Cunningham entered the game, and cheered when she missed her first free throw. Cunningham said in an ESPN profile published last month that she opposed transgender girls and women competing in girls' and women's sports. Late in the fourth quarter, fans cheered when someone holding a banner in support of transgender rights was shown on the video screen during a timeout.
Mitchell and Mabrey were each issued technical fouls after clashing early in the third quarter. Aneesah Morrow had 15 points and 16 rebounds for Toronto, while Temi Fagbenle scored 13 and Kiki Rice added 10. Sykes returned after missing more than two months with a left plantar fascia injury, having last played in a June 16 loss at Indiana.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
