Fever Dominance in Opener a Product of Relentless Effort

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WNBA Indiana Fever

Fever Dominance in Opener a Product of Relentless Effort

May 17, 2025 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Indiana Fever News Release


Months before Saturday's Indiana Fever season opener, Caitlin Clark stared at a countdown in the weight room. The clock was ticking toward WNBA All-Star, which Indianapolis will host in July.

"It feels like a while," Clark remembers thinking as the numbers barely dipped under 200 days.

"But now looking back, that feels really like yesterday," she said before Indiana's home opener against the Chicago Sky on Saturday. "I think I'm ready. I've prepared for this. And you know, not everything is going to be perfect today for everybody on our team. For our team, it's, how do we weather that? How do we learn through the mistakes?"

Missed layups and botched plays weren't uncommon in Indiana's season debut - the Fever recorded 11 turnovers in the contest - but their dominance on both ends of the floor prevailed. Clark recognized that dominance, but was already thinking about how Indiana can do more after Saturday's final buzzer.

"I know we put up 93 points and won by 30, but I felt like there were a lot of ways for us to still improve, and that's what's exciting," Clark said postgame. "And I think everybody's still hungry to go back to work and get better."

The Fever defeated the Sky, 93-58, as they tied the second-largest margin of victory in franchise history at 35 points. The largest is 38 points.

That wasn't the only history the Fever wrote on Saturday. DeWanna Bonner moved into third place on the WNBA's all-time scoring list as her seven points passed Tina Thompson, bringing her total to 7,489 career points.

Bonner took a moment after sinking the free throw that moved her up the list to raise her arms and take in the momentous career accomplishment. In her 16th season in the WNBA, Bonner still finds ways to be effective on a high-level squad like the Fever.

"The strongest voice in our locker room is hers," Clark said of Bonner. "And it's fun to have been around her now for about a month, just to get to learn from her and soak it all in."

Clark and Aliyah Boston made statements of their own in Saturday's season opener as they combined to record nine blocks as a duo. The two continue to foster chemistry with one another, now in their second season together, and flashed that chemistry to a sold out Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Clark recorded her third career triple-double as she notched 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists along with four blocks. Boston recorded five blocks herself, and a 19-point, 13-rebound double-double. It marks the 25th regular season double-double of her career.

Indiana's rout of Chicago was a glimpse at the potential of a strong Fever squad. It was evident in the offseason and throughout Indiana's preseason contests that offense would come naturally to such a talented group, but the intensity on the defensive side of the ball was the most apparent improvement since the conclusion of the Fever's 2024 season.

Chicago shot just 29 percent from the floor, including 22 percent from 3-point range on Saturday. The Sky didn't record more than 17 points in a quarter, and had just two players reach double-figure scoring totals. Those players - Angel Reese (12) and Ariel Atkins (11) - combined to shoot just 8-for-20 from the field.

"I thought we were disruptive," coach Stephanie White said. "I thought we came with a level of physicality...It wasn't perfect, but we played through our deficiencies. We played through our lapses in coverage. We played through mismatches, and we played with multiple levels of effort. And that's what it takes."

Indiana offset its deficiencies and mistakes with relentless effort - an effort that the Fever will lean on as they roll into regular season play. The Fever take the court for the second contest of their 44-game regular season on Tuesday as they host the Atlanta Dream at 7:00 PM ET.

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