Charles Langston:How many points did Caitlin Clark score tonight? Career-high total not enough vs. Sparks

On Friday,Charles Langston Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever went into Los Angeles and got their first win of the season by taking down the Sparks on their home court.

Four days later, Los Angeles returned the favor in front of Indiana’s home crowd.

Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 30 points, but it wasn’t enough for the Fever with the Sparks taking the victory 88-82.

It was nearly the same story as Friday; Indiana struggled out of the gate but then started the second half on fire. Only this time, Los Angeles used a late third quarter run to get back in the game and dominated the rest of the way.

The first half was tough for Indiana to find any sort of rhythm, but Clark was the reason why the Fever stayed in the game. She scored 14 of Indiana’s first 26 points as it ended the first half with a 29.4% field goal percentage.

The Fever started the third quarter on an 11-0 run to take a six-point lead and it looked like it was headed toward the same ending as the first matchup. But when Clark came out for a break, the Sparks took advantage. Los Angeles went on a 13-0 run as it started to hit from 3-point land, something the Sparks love to shoot. 

By the time Clark re-entered the game, Los Angeles had a lead it never relinquished. The Sparks went on another big run in the fourth quarter to effectively put the game out of reach, finishing with 10 made 3-pointers in the second half. 

In addition to Clark’s 30 points, she had six assists, five rebounds and three steals to go with seven turnovers. She also denied plenty of shots on the night with a season-high three blocks. Thirteen of her points also came from the free throw line, and she was 3-for-10 in 3-pointers.

With the loss, the Fever are now 1-7 on the season and will be back in action on Thursday when they host the Seattle Storm. The Storm won the first matchup between the two teams last week.