INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Stephanie White was greeted by cheers instead of boos. And the Indiana Fever and their fans had plenty of reasons to be happy before the night was over.
Caitlin Clark had 29 points and 10 assists in an entertaining duel with fellow No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers, and the Fever beat the Dallas Wings 98-87 on Friday night in a rare game that wasn't marred by on-court or off-court controversies.
“We love each other in that locker room and we know there are a lot of people out there that are trying to tear it apart,” White said, three days Indiana's coach denounced the “divisiveness” around the WNBA in a 2 1/2-minute pregame rant. “When we say we’re a family, we mean that. It doesn’t always mean we get along, It doesn’t mean we always agree. But at the end of the day, it means we circle are wagons and we have each other’s back.”
White had drawn the wrath of Fever fans — and even Indiana Lt. Gov Micah Beckwith — after what some saw as her downplaying a flagrant foul by Chicago's DiJonai Carrington on Indiana's Sophie Cunningham.
After White called the foul on Cunningham “egregious” during her table-pounding pregame speech on Tuesday and said she always backed her players, the Fever went out and beat the New York Liberty 106-92 as Clark and her teammates rallied around their coach.
All appeared to be forgiven on Friday as the Fever picked up their third straight win.
“I think our fans, you know the true Indiana Fever fans, are amazing. They’ve been incredible to me for a long time,” White said. “But more than anything, I’m thankful for this group of women and the men on our staff, and I’m thankful we can all lift each other up when need to be and they’ve been lifting me up. I’m happy about that.”
All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell continued scoring at a high clip, finishing with 23 points. All-Star center Aliyah Boston scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, and even Indiana’s oft-criticized defense played well through the first half and in the closing minutes.
Friday’s game and next week’s game in Dallas could be a playoff preview.
Indiana has won eight of 10 and finished the night as the league's fourth-place team, a half-game ahead of the Atlanta Dream — its opponent on Sunday. The Wings have lost seven of 10 to fall into a tie for seventh with Washington.
Bueckers matched Clark with 29 points, but it wasn't enough for Dallas.
“Obviously, she is an incredible player, makes it really hard on us defensively,” Clark said. “We tried to throw a lot of different things at her. She’s so good in the mid-range. I felt like we had a few miscommunications, especially in that third-quarter spurt where she was completely wide open. That’s on our group to figure it out.”
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