{"id":771632,"date":"2026-07-19T06:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T06:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/771632\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T06:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T06:57:17","slug":"liberty-fever-takeaways-kelsey-mitchell-drops-33-points-clark-picks-up-sixth-technical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/771632\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty-Fever takeaways: Kelsey Mitchell drops 33 points, Clark picks up sixth technical"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 After recording a franchise-record 45 points and 10 assists<\/a> in a comeback win over the Seattle Storm on Friday, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark came back down to earth Saturday in the Fever\u2019s 108-88 victory over the New York Liberty.<\/p>\n

Clark finished with 17 points and seven assists, while teammate Kelsey Mitchell paced the team with a game-high 33 points. The Fever notched their second straight win and fourth in five games. The Liberty, meanwhile, have lost four straight.<\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s first back-to-back in two years<\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s participation in Friday\u2019s and Saturday\u2019s games marked her first back-to-back in over two years. Until this week, she hadn\u2019t played in a back-to-back since 2024, her rookie season, after being limited to 13 games last year due to various injuries and managing persistent back issues this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up feeling probably as good as I could have,\u201d Clark said before Saturday\u2019s game. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s different as you get moving a little bit, but I feel good and I\u2019m happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just over 24 hours after becoming the 11th player in WNBA history to score 45 points in a game, Clark took a significant step forward in her health by suiting up Saturday. The three-time All-Star provided a few highlights, including two and-1s in the second half, but shot just 5 of 14 from the field and 2 of 8 on 3s in 26 minutes. She also coughed up seven turnovers.<\/p>\n

Fever cruise as Clark plays consecutive nights for first time in two years<\/p>\n

Mitchell kept the Fever offense humming. The four-time All-Star scored 14 points in the third quarter as Indiana outscored the Liberty 30-12 to take a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter. Mitchell provided arguably the play of the game when she drilled a pull-up 3-pointer while being fouled by the Liberty\u2019s Breanna Stewart with just under four minutes left in the game. The 4-point play gave Mitchell her fourth 30-point game of the season, tied for the most in a single season in franchise history, and extended her franchise record to 15 30-point outings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a stat person. I think, obviously, you play to win a game, and that comes with scoring points,\u201d Mitchell said after the game. \u201cI appreciate it, but it ultimately comes down to not wanting to give in too much and not getting too high or not getting too low. I think that (if) you get too high into it, then you lose your mind, and so I don\u2019t want to lose my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aliyah Boston, also a four-time All-Star, returned from a one-game absence due to a lower right leg injury and chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 24 minutes. Sophie Cunningham added 11 points off the bench, punctuated by three 3s.<\/p>\n

Liberty keep backsliding<\/p>\n

The Liberty, a perennial contender in recent years, have lost eight of their last 10 (excluding their Commissioner\u2019s Cup championship victory, which does not count toward the regular-season standings).<\/p>\n

New York built a 13-point lead in the second quarter, but the Fever cut that lead to four by halftime. The Liberty were unable to find much offensive success after the break. Stewart poured in a team-high 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, but she missed five of her nine free throws. Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu were limited to just 13 and 12 points, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought our defense was really good in the second half, particularly in that third quarter,\u201d Fever coach Stephanie White said. \u201cIt takes some pressure off of our offense to be perfect. I thought our activity level was really good. Our attention to detail was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

To compound their troubles, Liberty guard Marine Johannes left the game in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a left ankle injury after she stepped on Fever guard Tyasha Harris\u2019 foot. She grimaced as she was helped back to the locker room, flanked by a teammate and trainer. Johannes scored all 12 of her points in the first quarter and played 18 minutes.<\/p>\n

Clark assessed sixth technical<\/p>\n

Clark was assessed a technical foul in the first quarter and now has six technical fouls this season. If she reaches eight, she\u2019ll receive a WNBA-mandated one-game suspension.<\/p>\n

Clark picked up a technical foul after she was leveled on a screen by Jones. The play was a no-call, but Clark took exception to the physicality and yelled at the closest official. Stewart drained the ensuing technical foul free throw to give New York a 9-2 lead with 8:29 left in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t ask for an explanation. I think there was a reaction (from Clark),\u201d White said. \u201c\u2026 But yeah, there certainly are conversations (with her) and there have to be conversations. It\u2019s a long season \u2026 so making sure we\u2019re strategic in using our technical fouls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this season, Clark said she wouldn\u2019t change her approach<\/a> after she picked up her fifth technical foul in a win over the Phoenix Mercury last month. In that contest, Clark was assessed a technical foul for loudly clapping in the direction of Mercury players during a skirmish, which White said the officials deemed as taunting.<\/p>\n

Clark pours in career-high 45 Pts in first 40-10 game in WNBA history<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should all just go on the calendar now and pick a game that I\u2019m gonna be suspended for if I\u2019m gonna get technicals for clapping,\u201d Clark said after that game.<\/p>\n

The Fever have previously appealed Clark\u2019s technical fouls, but if this one is not rescinded, she\u2019ll be tied with Mercury guard Kahleah Copper for the second-most technical fouls in the WNBA this season. Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese leads the league with seven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 After recording a franchise-record 45 points and 10 assists in a comeback win over the Seattle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2839,99,434],"class_list":["post-771632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-indiana-fever","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}