The Indiana Fever's Aliyah Boston, left, talks with Caitlin Clark, who is out for the season because of an injury, during the first half against the Lynx on Tuesday night in Indianapolis. (Darron Cummings/The Associated Press)
“It’s one of those things,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said in her postgame comments to the media. “If you don’t make shots, you have to work your way through it. We lacked that mindset tonight. Jess was great. She always competes.”
For the game, the Lynx shot 44.6% (33-for-74) from the field and were 2-for-20 from three-point range. The Lynx went into the game with the league’s best three-point percentage (38.5%).
Indiana, which shot 48.4% (31-for-64) from the field, opened the game with a 10-0 run in the first 2½ minutes. The Lynx pulled to within 14-8 with 4:35 left, but the Fever went on a 12-2 run, fueled by eight points from Aerial Powers, to take a 26-10 lead with one minute remaining in the quarter. Indiana led 28-14 after 10 minutes.
The Lynx scored the first two baskets of the second quarter to cut the Fever’s lead to 10 points, but Indiana eventually built a 17-point advantage before the Lynx scored the final two baskets of the half to pull within 49-36 at halftime.
The Fever were 19-for-33 (57.6%) from the field in the first half, while the Lynx shot 41% (16-for-39) from the field and were 0-for-12 from three-point range.
The Lynx opened the second half with a 9-0 run to pull within four points (49-45) with 7:50 remaining in the third quarter — the closest they had been since trailing 10-6 midway through the first quarter. But the Fever, behind three three-pointers from Mitchell, outscored the Lynx 21-8 the rest of the quarter to take a 17-point lead (70-53) into the fourth.