ATLANTA — Kelsey Mitchell scored 29 points, including the game-winning free throw with five seconds left, Caitlin Clark added 19 points and the Indiana Fever disappointed a record-setting Atlanta crowd with an 84-79 win over the Dream Team on Monday night.
In the final seconds, without a break, Atlanta missed three three-pointers but grabbed two offensive rebounds before losing the ball, leading to Mitchell’s free throws.
Alyah Boston had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana, and Damiris Dantas had 11 off the bench to help give the Fever (14-16) its most wins in a season since 17-17 in 2016. Clarke made four 3-pointers, tying the rookie season record of 85 set by Atlanta’s Ryan Howard in 2022.
Clark also added seven assists and seven rebounds to her long-range shooting stats. It was her 21st game of the season in which she recorded at least 15 points and five assists, the most in a single season in WNBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
“Our chemistry has improved,” Clark said of Fever’s recent performance, adding that for her individually, she is “really excited because I feel like there are a lot of areas where I need to continue to improve and that’s exciting as a player.”
Atlanta (10-19), which was a half-game out of the final playoff spot, started the game with an 18-point lead early in the second half when Clark hit a three-pointer before outscoring the Fever 41-32. The Dream managed to cut the deficit to two before Indiana had five points to stop the run.
Tina Charles scored 21 points to lead Atlanta, which moved the game to the Hawks’ home court and set a record attendance of 17,608, surpassing the previous attendance of 17,575 for the last game against the Fever. Howard scored 16 points, Alisha Gray 12 — who did not score after being fouled by Boston midway through the third quarter — and Jordyn Canada 10 for the Dream.
Howard hit a 3-pointer to give Atlanta a 76-74 lead with 4:13 left, but an offensive rebound by Clark found Lexi Hull for a layup a minute later. Hull recovered her own missed free throw and sent the ball to Mitchell for a layup to give Atlanta an 81-74 lead.
Nia Coffey hit a three-pointer for Atlanta with less than a minute left to make it 82-79.
Mitchell scored 15 points while Boston added 12, making 12 of 21 combined shots as the Fever led 52-38 at halftime.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Mitchell has 105 points combined over Indiana’s last four games, tying the record she set last year for most points in a four-game stretch in Fever history.
At halftime, the gold medal winning team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics was honored.
This report was based on information from the Associated Press.