Mercury fall to Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever, suffering 4th loss in last 5 games

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Aari McDonald scored a career-high 27 points, Aliyah Boston had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and the short-handed Indiana Fever beat the Phoenix Mercury 107-101 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.

Indiana star Caitlin Clark was sidelined with a right groin injury and there’s no timetable for her return. The Fever improved to 7-7 without Clark this season.

Alyssa Thomas led Phoenix (16-10) with 32 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Kahleah Copper, who played in her 10th game this season, added 22 points and Sami Whitcomb scored 18. The Mercury have lost four of their last five games.

All Star Satou Sabally was held to 3-of-14 shooting and 0-of-5 from 3-point range, scoring just 9 points.

Sabally is 9th in the league in points per game, averaging 18.0.

Boston scored Indiana’s opening 14 points of the fourth quarter for an 88-79 lead. She finished with her fourth straight double-double.

Indiana’s 10th 3-pointer came on Chloe Bibby’s shot from the corner with 5:27 remaining to make it 91-83. Then Sophie Cunningham was fouled while making a 3-pointer and she made the free throw for an 11-point lead.

Cunningham and Damiris Dantas each scored 12 points for Indiana (15-12), which scored 100-plus for the third time this season. Kelsey Mitchell, who scored a season-high 35 points on Sunday, was held to eight points on 3-of-10 shooting.

Indiana dominated the second quarter, scoring 35 points to take a 55-50 lead into the break. Phoenix only made one field goal in the final three minutes of the period, with Whitcomb just beating the halftime buzzer on a long 3-pointer.

Familiar faces

In the first of three meetings this season, Cunningham faced the Mercury for the first time after spending her first six professional seasons in Phoenix. DeWanna Bonner went against the Fever for the first time since departing the team earlier this season. Bonner went 1 of 4 from the field in 21 minutes.

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