CNN
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Caitlin Clark scored a season-high 32 points and equaled a career-high seven three-pointers on her return from injury as the Indiana Fever defeated the New York Liberty 102-88 on Saturday.
It was the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year’s first appearance in three weeks having missed the last five games with a left quad injury, but Clark wasted no time picking up where she left off, scoring 25 points in the first half.
Her eventual 32 points are the second most she has put up in a WNBA game, three fewer than the 35 she managed against the Dallas Wings in September last year. Her seven threes tied her career best, which she set against the Washington Mystics in June 2024.
“My most I’ve ever made in a game was 12, that was in high school!” she said of her three-point efforts after Saturday’s game. “That’s what they gave up tonight, is they were going to let us shoot threes.”
“We made 17 of them, so I think we really took advantage of what they were giving us, and that’s what you have to do when you play really good teams,” added Clark, who also put up eight rebounds and nine assists against New York.
Indiana, which went 2-3 without Clark and is now 5-5 overall, made a franchise-record 17 threes in 35 attempts (48.6%), with Kelsey Mitchell scoring 22 points and Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston and Sydney Colson all also scoring double figures.
It is the first time this season that the Fever have scored triple figures.
The defeat is New York’s first of the season. The defending champion would have become just the fourth team in WNBA history to begin a season with 10 straight victories, but the loss came despite a season-high 34 points Sabrina Ionescu and 24 points from Breanna Stewart.
The Liberty raced out into an early 11-point lead, but Clark took control in the final three minutes of the first quarter, converting a three-point play before hitting threes from deep on three consecutive possessions to tie the game.
Clark’s contribution drew praise from Fever head coach Stephanie White, who asked “Don’t we always expect that kind of game from Caitlin?”
Equally impressed was LeBron James, who welcomed her return with a post on X.
The Fever, who were up 53-50 at half time, fell behind again when New York began the second half with a 9-0 run. But Indiana took control from then onwards, going on a huge 19-0 run in the third quarter before 10 points from Mitchell in the fourth helped round out the win.
