Caitlin Clark returned to the court Monday after an injury, but her Indiana Fever fell short in an 88-84 thriller against the Connecticut Sun.
Clark rolled her left ankle in the second quarter. The Fever went into halftime with a 44-41 lead despite Clark’s absence for the final 5:32 of the half. Clark returned in the third quarter and helped the Fever recover from a nine-point deficit in the second half. But the Sun took advantage of multiple Clark mistakes down the stretch that helped secure the win.
Clark finished with 17 points, five assists and five turnovers and remains in search of her first WNBA win since being selected first overall in April’s draft. The Sun, meanwhile, improved to 3-0 behind strong efforts from Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner.
Clark left Monday’s game midway through the second quarter with what at the time appeared to be an ankle injury. She rolled her left ankle in the second quarter while playing defense and fell to the court. She immediately grabbed her ankle and finally stood up in obvious pain.
She then hobbled to the sidelines and left for the Fever locker room with a trainer.
Clark returned to the bench before the end of the first half and her limp was gone. She did not return to the field for halftime, but sat on the sidelines while stretching her ankle with a band. She had scored eight points, two rebounds and two turnovers and had shot two of six from the field prior to her turnover.
She returned to the lineup for the start of the third quarter. The Sun opened the half on a 19-7 run to turn their three-point halftime deficit into a 60-51 lead. The Fever closed their deficit to 64-61 by the end of the third quarter and regained the lead at 65-64 early in the fourth.
After failing to register an assist through the first three quarters, Clark assisted on three straight buckets in the fourth quarter as the Fever mounted a rally. Then, with 7:16 to go, she stopped for a logo 3-pointer to regain the lead at 70-68.
From there it was a tight back-and-forth game with the Sun ultimately gaining the upper hand when Tyasha Harris broke an 84-84 tie with free throws with 11.3 seconds left.
This story will be updated.
