Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark avoided getting rattled by her back-and-forth with Julie Vanloo, instead enjoying a massive second half in a close game against the Washington Mystics

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark didn’t let an incident with Washington Mystics player Julie Vanloo knock her off her game on Wednesday. She caught fire following a sequence that included the 22-year-old pushing her counterpart, though Indiana’s comeback attempt fell just short in an 89-84 defeat.

Clark finished with 29 points – most coming in the second half – and added 13 assists, five steals and three blocks.f

With Vanloo guarding Clark closely on the perimeter in the second quarter, her arms draped around the No. 1 overall draft pick, Clark gave the Belgian three pushes. She avoided punishment from officials, though, and seemed to indicate that she believed Vanloo flopped.

The Fever trailed by double digits at the time of the scrap. By the end of the third quarter, Washington held a 21-point advantage. But Clark, who already torched the Mystics with outside shooting last month, nearly brought Indiana all the way back.

Clark became the first WNBA player ever to have at least 25 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, five steals, and five 3-pointers in a game.

Like the other standout members of the star-studded 2024 WNBA rookie class, Clark is producing at a high level despite barely receiving a break after the NCAA season. She played the maximum amount of games, as Iowa’s March Madness run to the national title game extended into early April.

Caitlin Clark and Julie Vanloo were involved in a second-quarter incident on Wednesday. ( Image: Sportsnet/X)
After enduring an understandable adjustment period in the first few weeks of the regular season, Clark has been one of the top-performing guards in the WNBA.

Even her defense has seemingly improved, as the Fever have gone from having one of the worst team defensive ratings in league history to not even being the bottom performer this WNBA campaign.

Across the board, Indiana’s recent performances have carried a level of pride not seen in what was arguably the team’s low point – a humiliating loss to the Connecticut Sun in which players seemed to give up on several defensive transition plays.

“I felt like we were just asking them to keep playing hard… you can’t play in this league if you have to coach effort,” head coach Christie Sides said in a venting session with reporters after that contest.

By contrast, Wednesday’s showing demonstrated a greater fight from the Fever, who battled back from a massive deficit to outscore the Mystics by 16 in the fourth quarter. And Clark, who has occasionally seemed rattled after confrontations, played like a calm assassin down the stretch.