Caitlin Clark scored 37 points, Kelsey Mitchell added 30 and the Indiana Fever pulled away from the Chicago Sky for a 113-90 victory on Sunday at Wintrust Arena.
Clark made a career-high eight of Indiana’s franchise-record 18 3-pointers. She also had 10 assists.
The Fever closed out a 3-2 trip with their third game in four nights. They had dropped two in a row.
Natasha Cloud had 16 points and seven assists for the Sky, which had won three in a row. Azurá Stevens added 14 points and eight rebounds.
The Sky were eliminated from the playoff race with the loss and a win by the Washington Mystics on Sunday night.
The Fever played without center Aliyah Boston, who was sidelined by a right leg injury. Boston had 22 points and six assists in Saturday’s 109-102 loss at the New York Liberty.
The Fever used a 13-2 run to open a 71-60 lead in the third quarter. Clark started the spurt with a 3 and Mitchell scored eight straight points before Clark capped the run with a jumper with 4:31 left.
Lexie Hull converted a reverse layup to make it 97-82 with 4:37 left. Hull scored 14 points for the Fever, and Makayla Timpson finished with 12.
Teams downplay any lingering tension from DiJonai Carrington foul on Sophie Cunningham
Fever guard Sophie Cunningham called it just another game. Sky coach Tyler Marsh felt the same way.
Sunday’s game was the first time since Cunningham was taken down by the Sky’s DiJonai Carrington on a hard foul on a fast break earlier this month. Carrington was listed as questionable with a left foot injury, but she was cleared after going through warmups.
“My mindset has never changed. I think it is what it is,” Cunningham said. “I’m locked in on tonight. … I think we’re just out here trying to get the win.”
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Cunningham and Carrington both checked in for the first time with 3:04 left in the first quarter. Cunningham scored three points while playing more than 11 minutes, and Carrington had seven points in 18 minutes for the Sky.
Marsh said he didn’t have any conversations with his players before the game about the charged atmosphere for their previous matchup.
“That kind of was what it was last game and anything that came out of it kind of lasted for that time,” Marsh said. “But for us, again, it was on to the next one in front of us.”
Cunningham was going up for a layup in the first quarter of Indiana’s 90-86 win on Aug. 8 when Carrington came from behind and hit her in the head and neck, knocking her to the court as the shot went in. Cunningham got up, charged Carrington and pushed her as she was held back by a teammate.
The play was reviewed and upgraded to a Flagrant 2 after the referee said there was windup, impact and follow-through on the foul, resulting in Carrington’s ejection.
Shortly after she was thrown out, Carrington posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE” on social media and tagged the Fever. Carrington is Black and Cunningham is white.
Days later, Carrington posted that she never claimed the assessment of the Flagrant 2 was the result of white privilege, but she didn’t elaborate further.
“I (couldn’t) care less about what she does, what she tweets, any of that,” Cunningham said before Sunday’s game. “I’m here to play basketball.
“There’s going to be people who are going to talk about it … but to me, it’s just another basketball game.”
Up next
The Sky visit the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night.
The Fever host Connecticut on Friday night.