Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White commanded the spotlight for more than two minutes before Tuesday night’s game. But once the ball went in the air, her team did the rest of the talking.
Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell caught fire early, scoring 20 of her 28 points in the first half, while backcourt running mate Caitlin Clark finished with 22 points and 10 assists as Indiana cruised past the New York Liberty, 106-92, for its seventh win in nine games.
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Mitchell made 11 of her 16 attempts from the field and she, like Clark and Sophie Cunningham, made four 3-pointers. Cunningham finished the game with 12 points and Aliyah Boston added 19 points and seven rebounds.
Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu each had 19 points for the Liberty. Jonquel Jones ended the night with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
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When Indiana’s 3s stopped falling in the third quarter, New York charged back quickly and cut the deficit to 66-57 with 6:51 to play. The Fever recovered, with Mitchell’s three-point play and Cunningham’s three-pointer in the final minute of the period pushing the lead to 87-67.
Before the game, White defended herself after she was criticized for her response to DiJonai Carrington’s flagrant foul on Cunningham, and pleaded with people to focus on the sport and not the continual sideshows.
"The hate, the fearmongering, the divisiveness that’s trying to hijack our league will not win. It won’t win," White said, her voice rising as she pounded the table in front of her. "We are united. We are connected. We will not be divided. Every day these women put their ass on the line. Every day when they go low, we go high. Love will win. Grace will win. Humility will win and kindness will win. I stand by them, I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell."
After making the comments, White immediately left without taking questions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
