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Caitlin Clark opened the season with the third triple-double of her career, and the new-look Indiana Fever dominated the final 16-1/2 minutes Saturday to pull away from the revamped Chicago Sky 93-58.
Last season’s WNBA Rookie of the Year finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists while blocking a career-high four shots. Aliyah Boston added 19 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks, while Natasha Howard scored 15 points in her Fever debut.
DeWanna Bonner also scored seven points to move into third on the WNBA’s career scoring last, passing Tina Thompson. Bonner now has 7,289 points.
Angel Reese had 12 points and 17 rebounds for the Sky, who lost three of four last season to Indiana. Ariel Atkins added 11 points.
But the game was defined by the newest chapter in the Clark-Reese rivalry. This time, it came with Reese shoving the Fever’s Natasha Howard with two hands under the basket before grabbing an offensive rebound and Clark slapping Reese’s arm hard enough to jar the ball loose and knock Reese to floor with 4:38 left in the third quarter. When Reese jumped up to confront Clark, Fever center Aliyah Boston stepped between the two players as Clark walked away from the skirmish.
The referees upgraded Clark’s foul to a flagrant 1 and assessed technical fouls to Reese and Boston following a replay review.
But after Reese made one of two free throws and Courtney Vandersloot made a layup on the ensuing possession, Indiana closed the third quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 65-45 lead. The Sky never really threatened Indiana’s lead.
Fever coach Stephanie White earned the first win of her second coaching tenure in her first game back in the state where she won Indiana’s 1994-95 Miss Basketball Award and led Purdue to the 1998-99 national championship.
Meanwhile, longtime WNBA pro DeWanna Bonner moved into third place on the league’s career scoring list in her Indiana Fever debut Saturday.
She passed Tina Thompson when she made two free throws with 3:13 to go in the game against the Fever’s nearest rival, the Chicago Sky. The crowd gave her a roaring ovation after the free throw that tied Thompson with 7,488 points and Bonner waved to the crowd before making the next one to move to No. 3.
At the next stoppage, she left the game to an even louder ovation and her new teammates helped her celebrate the moment.
“D.B. is somebody that’s a Hall of Famer, like a legend, not only a good basketball player, a great person,” Clark said. “The strongest voice in the locker room is hers, and it’s fun to have been around for her for about a month, just to get to learn from her. And I’m really happy she got to do it at the free-throw line and all the fans could go crazy and cheer for her because she really deserved that moment.”
The 37-year-old Bonner didn’t need a few more points to cement her legacy. But after winning two leagues titles and making six All-Star appearances, getting to 7,489 points was certainly a unique way to enjoy her first home game with Indiana.
Only the recently retired Diana Taurasi and Tina Charles have scored more points than Bonner, who has made the All-WNBA team twice. She was a key offseason acquisition for Indiana, opting to follow her coach in Connecticut, Stephanie White, to Indiana.
“It’s really incredible and not just her longevity, her efficiency and how good she’s been her entire career and she gets lost in the shuffle, right?” White said. “She’s played with a lot of great players, and she’s just quietly gone about her business.
“What she’s done and been able to accomplish in this league, the way she’s been able to do it, being available every year, nearly every game, that’s hard to do.”
It wasn’t just Indiana players and fans celebrating, either.
Shortly after the game, the Fever posted a video clip of other WNBA stars congratulating Bonner, who entered the league with Phoenix in 2009 after starring at Auburn in college. She’s also repeatedly made it clear that she came to Indiana to win a third title.
She and the overhauled Fever are off to a good start, and her teammates relished the moment they got to share with Bonner.
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Great start to the season!