Fever Fall to Aces in Overtime Letdown
WNBA Indiana Fever

Fever Fall to Aces in Overtime Letdown

Published on August 6, 2026 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Indiana Fever News Release


Seven seconds remained in regulation as Caitlin Clark stepped up to the free throw line to seal a win against the Las Vegas Aces. Indiana led by three points, 75-72.

Clark missed both free throws, and Las Vegas took possession of the ball to ultimately tie the game on a Chelsea Gray buzzer-beating triple. Indiana fought back in overtime to lead by a single point, 84-83, with 6.6 seconds remaining, but Gray stepped up to sink yet another 3-pointer at the buzzer. Las Vegas defeated the Fever, 86-84, in overtime.

"It's easy in a game like this to think it comes down to one thing," coach Stephanie White said. "For me, I look at that 15-0 run in the last three minutes of the second quarter, and the 7-0 run the first however many minutes of the third quarter. That's the gist of it."

The Fever led by two points after the first quarter, 20-18, but found some momentum in the second. Indiana shot over 60 percent in the second period, led by Aliyah Boston's nine points and Clark's six assists. They went on a 22-4 run through the bulk of the quarter, but sputtered in the final three minutes. The Aces went on their own 15-0 run down the stretch to minimize a 20-point Fever lead down to just five at the break, 42-37.

"We just became flat," Clark said of the Aces' second quarter run. "...[That] led to some turnovers for us and easy transition buckets for them, and that's kind of where they thrive. I felt like that kind of got them going, got them some momentum, and you know that was probably the difference right there."

Indiana had trouble finding any energy after Las Vegas' devastating second quarter run. The Fever didn't find the basket for the final four minutes of the second period, then were held scoreless until the 6:24 mark of the third. Just over seven minutes and thirty seconds ticked off the clock before Indiana saw the ball go through the net again.

The Fever led by as many as 20 points before the Aces' second quarter run, but went on to fall in overtime.

Despite the loss, positivity prevailed in the form of Kelsey Mitchell for the Fever. Mitchell extended her streak of scoring 20 or more points in consecutive games to 15 straight - that matches A'ja Wilson's streak of such games in a single season. She'll have a chance to break Wilson's record when the Fever collide with the Sky on Saturday.

Wilson scored 26 points herself, but took 25 shots to get there. Boston primarily defended Wilson alongside Monique Billings and Makayla Timpson.

"I thought we were pretty focused [on defense]," Boston said. "We knew that for us, even if our shots didn't go in, we had to lock in. I honestly thought we did a pretty good job of that. We tried to make them shoot tough twos, tough threes.

"...[I'm] pretty pretty happy with the way that we defended her. I mean, we'll live with contested twos."

The Aces shot just 40.7 percent from the field and committed 16 turnovers on Thursday. Indiana's defense was strong despite momentary lapses in the second and third quarters - the Fever's biggest challenge was possessing the ball themselves.

Indiana committed 22 total turnovers that turned into 18 Aces points. In a game decided by a single possession, those mistakes are difficult for the Fever to ignore.

"I look at our 22 turnovers that gave them 18 points," White said. "...It really came down to us giving them extra possessions with our turnovers and those runs in the second and third [quarters]."

This isn't the first time the Fever have struggled to maintain a lead after building it up early in a game, but game management isn't an easy skill to hone in practice. Indiana has to learn through experience - specifically experiences like Thursday's loss.

"There's no substitute for experience," White said. "You can't walk them through it. You can't talk them through it. You've just got to go through it. And so I think for us, it's just part of our growth process. Now I think early in the season, I'm not sure we would respond in the same way, so we are better. We just have got to get to where we don't have those moments."

Indiana might sit with the disappointment of a tough loss on Thursday, but the WNBA schedule offers the Fever another opportunity to bounce back as they travel to Chicago to battle the Sky on Saturday.

"At the end of the day, we've got to watch it, we've got to learn from it, we've got to grow, and we can't trip on it," White said. "We can't trip on anything that's behind us. We've got to move forward because we've got a tough Chicago team coming at us on Saturday."

Check out the Indiana Fever Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Women's National Basketball Association Stories from August 6, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central