WASHINGTON (AP) — Caitlin Clark was alone with the ball, right in the front of the logo with the game on the line.
As frustrating as this season has been at times for her and the Indiana Fever, this was Clark’s comfort zone — and the shot hit nothing but net.
Clark’s 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining gave Indiana a 78-76 victory over the Washington Mystics on Monday night — and gave the 24-year-old star a signature moment following a rocky stretch at the start of her third season.
“I think sometimes we take great players, and certainly generational talent, for granted,” Indiana coach Stephanie White said. “What she did was incredible for us. She’s going to have many more moments like that. I know she is. And we needed this one tonight.”
Indiana was just 5-5 entering the game. Clark was filling up the stat sheet but had not been shooting the ball well. As always, she’s been under a microscope, having to answer for a feisty sideline exchange with White and receiving criticism by national columnists for her occasional histrionics on the court.
The online conversation around her feels almost tribal at times, but in front of a packed crowd at Washington’s CareFirst Arena, she contributed to another electric atmosphere. White was asked if this game-winning 3 might quiet the “noise” around Clark, but that may be impossible.
“I don’t know that the noise is ever going to be quiet,” White said. “This is what Caitlin does. She makes big shots, and she has big moments.”
After scoring 10 points in the first quarter, Clark was derailed for a bit because of foul trouble. Her four-point play in the third pushed Indiana’s lead to 17, but the Mystics rallied.
Down by one with 36 seconds left, Clark missed two straight free throws, but before another round of discourse could even get started, Washington turned the ball over and Clark patiently found Kelsey Mitchell in transition for a layup to give the Fever the lead.
Then Sonia Citron made two free throws with 4.3 seconds to play, putting the Mystics up 76-75. Indiana called timeout, and Sophie Cunningham’s inbound pass sailed across the court toward Clark, who was all alone after Washington’s Cotie McMahon tried for the steal and missed. It was perhaps the biggest shot of her WNBA career.
“You better make this,” Clark said she was thinking at the time. “Because I missed my free throws. All those plays are plays we work on after practice, so everybody knows their role, everybody knows what they’re going to do.
“Cotie almost got a fingertip on it,” Clark added. “It kind of worked out perfectly that she went for the steal. Honestly probably the most wide-open shot I had all night. My hands got a little clammy, but still went in, I guess.”
Teammate Lexie Hull was in the opposite corner, pretty open in her own right, but it was no surprise the ball went to Clark.
“From my view, I thought Cotie was going to get it,” Hull said. “Then it slipped through, and still holding my breath. I have complete confidence that it’s going to go in, but to see it go in and put us in the lead, that was one of the biggest moments we’ve had this season, so very excited.
“And just for Caitlin, very happy to see it go through for her.”
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