INDIANAPOLIS — Friday’s basketball game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse brought back shades of the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball championship game. Only this time, Caitlin Clark wasn’t donning an Iowa Hawkeyes jersey and Flau’jae Johnson, LSU.
Johnson drove at the Indiana Fever star with just under a minute remaining. Hit the layup and the Seattle Storm take a 104-102 lead with 55 seconds left but Clark stood her ground and blocked Johnson’s three-foot running layup attempt.
Did Clark hit Johnson in the arm? Or was it clean? “I don’t know,” Clark joked. “But I’m not sure the ref was in a position to make the call. I think it was pretty clean, but I don’t know. I just tried to make a good play on the ball.”
The defensive stop led to a Clark 3-pointer on the other end, which gave the Fever a 105-102 lead with 39.1 seconds left. The Fever defeated the Storm 110-107. Clark’s clutch block was a testament to her growth on defense and the Fever’s “cutthroat” defensive mentality in the fourth quarter.
“That was a heck of a defensive play. Not just to get a hand on it and strip it, but then to maintain our possession, it was big,” coach Stephanie White said. “I thought there were three defensive possessions that she had on that end of the floor in those last four minutes that were big time for us.”
The Storm scored 88 points through the first three quarters on 64.8% shooting. Seattle had a six-point lead entering the fourth. The Fever held Seattle to 19 points and 8-of-22 from the field in the fourth. When asked what made the difference in the fourth quarter, White quipped, “If I knew, I’d probably bottle that up.”
White boiled it down to mentality. She admitted the Storm made “tough shots” down the stretch, but said her team took their defense “to another level,” one which they must find more consistently. The Fever are 2-6 when they allow at least 100 points this season. Indiana allows 89.7 points per game, fourth worst in the league.
”We have a drill that we call cutthroat that we do on the defensive end of the floor. We gotta have a cutthroat mentality right now. We gotta get stops. I thought our fourth-quarter defense was really good. You have to find a way, and our team found a way,” White said. “We made big plays down there. I thought (Monique Billings’) defense was really good down the stretch. (Makayla Timpson’s) hustle play was the play of the game. Getting on the floor after that loose ball and saving the possession, big time.”
Fever All-Star center Aliyah Boston, who is ninth in the WNBA with 1.2 blocks per game, missed Friday’s game with a right lower leg injury. Timpson and Billings were called upon to guard Storm bigs Dominique Malonga, 6-6, and Awa Fam, 6-4.
Timpson started in her first WNBA game and played a career-high 32 minutes Friday. She notched eight points, nine rebounds, including eight offensive boards, and two steals. Billings’ block on Malonga with 3:06 left in the fourth kept the Storm’s lead at 98-96. Storm guard Jade Melbourne secured the offensive rebound, but Timpson stole the ball five seconds later.
White said Billings’ leadership and energy were ”great” and praised her for her performance against Fam and Malonga, a duo White lauded as “special.” Billings had 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.
Fam posted 16 points on 5 of 6 shooting. She was limited to just two shots in the fourth after hitting four 3s in the third. Malonga notched 28 points on 13-of-22 shooting but missed three layups in the final 4:28.
“Mo stepped up and made great plays and she got big rebounds for us. Just really proud of her,” Clark said. “It’s a difficult matchup. Their two young posts are good, and the way the Fam can shoot the ball, and then Malonga on the inside, is a real challenge. She stepped up to it, and so did KK.”
White recognized Timpson’s development in her ability to set screens, cut and play on the perimeter. White said Timpson’s versatility allows her to be a switchable defender. Clark acknowledged Fam and Malonga’s length and offensive prowess, but said Timpson ”stepped up to the challenge.”
“She’s put in the work. She’s in the gym. She wants to get better,” Clark said. “She’s probably the most athletic player I’ve ever played with and one of the most athletic players I’ve ever seen. It’s fun to see that come to light. Everybody knows what she’s capable of and she’s just scratching the surface. I can’t wait to see where it takes her.”
Added White: “She’s got a tremendous amount of upside. Every day she’s gaining more and more confidence.’
She’s not the only one.
Clark admitted she could’ve played better defensively in the first half by not opening her hips as much to Seattle‘s guards. She earned her first foul four seconds into the game. Her second didn’t come until 3:52 left in the third, evidence of discipline.
Clark’s confidence on defense is “growing,” White said. Replicate Friday’s performance consistently and it‘s only a matter of time before teams stop hunting the offensive juggernaut.
“I had four steals and two blocks. It’s pretty rare, pretty nice,“ Clark said. “ … I tried to make some plays on the ball there at the end, came up with a couple of steals. The only time our defense was good was late in the fourth quarter, and I guess that’s when you need it, so we’ll take it.”
Joshua Heron is an enterprise and Fever reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @HeronReports. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Fever’s late defensive stand, led by Caitlin Clark — yes, Caitlin Clark — stuns Storm
Reporting by Joshua Heron, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Joshua Heron, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
