UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Alyssa Thomas had the 15th triple-double of her career to spoil Caitlin Clark’s playoff debut as the Connecticut Sun beat the Indiana Fever 93-69 on Sunday in Game 1 of their best-of-three series.
Thomas finished with 12 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, earning her fourth postseason triple-double. Marina Mabrey led the third-seeded Sun with 27 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Her 27 points are the most by a reserve in the playoffs, according to ESPN.
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Connecticut with a potential decisive third game in Indiana on Friday night if necessary.
Clark, who earlier in the day was announced as the AP Rookie of the Year, finished with 11 points, recovering from a rough start. She also had eight assists. Kelsey Mitchell scored 21 points and Aliyah Boston added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana.
The Sun came into the contest with 222 playoff games under their belt while the Fever had just 19, including none among the starters. This was Indiana’s first appearance in the playoffs since 2016. Connecticut head coach Stephanie White was in charge of the Fever that year.
The lack of experience didn’t seem to rattle the Fever early. It also probably helped that like most Fever road games this season, nearly half the crowd — many of whom were wearing Clark shirts — cheered on everything they did.
After a back-and-forth first 16 minutes, Indiana led 36-34 with 3:45 left in the first half. The Sun then took over, closing the opening 20 minutes on a 12-2 run.
DeWanna Bonner had four points and an emphatic block of a Clark layup during the spurt. Bonner finished the opening 20 minutes with 16 points. Clark had a quiet first half with just three points, making one of her nine shots.
She missed her first two shots of the third quarter before the Fever called timeout. Clark smacked the bench in frustration. That seemed to get her going as she made her next three shots to try and rally the Fever, but it wasn’t enough as Mabrey matched her shot for shot, scoring 11 points in the third. Clark finished finished 4 for 17.
The first half also had a bit of everything with a stoppage 48 seconds into the game for Indiana to challenge a foul called on the wrong player. They were successful. About 45 seconds later Clark was accidently poked in the right eye by DiJonai Carrington and was down for a bit before walking off the court.
A few minutes later Tyasha Harris hurt her right leg while trying to defend a shot. She had to be helped off the court and later returned to the bench with that ankle heavily wrapped.