After a long time waiting and mounting pressure, Stephanie White can finally exhale. With their first win since Clark’s injury, the Fever has snapped the skid and reignited hope for the season. The Fever had a revenge of sorts as they won 85-76 against the Washington Mystics, against whom they had lost last week.

The win was not as comfortable as the scoreline might suggest, as they had to grind it out against the likes of Kiki Iriafen and Brittney Sykes, who put up 20-point games. White mentioned in the post-match interview that this wasn’t the ideal game, but a true winner finds a way despite the circumstances.

White said, “Outside of game one, the most consistent we’ve played, um, throughout the course of 40 minutes. So you know I’m proud of this group, um, sticking with it. It wasn’t perfect, but we found a way to get it done.”

Their first game this season was a total domination over the Chicago Sky, with Clark recording a triple-double to make a statement. That was supposed to be the start of a breakout season for the Indiana Fever but it has not panned out that way. It has been downhill since that win, struggling with injuries to their key players and losing three games on the trot until this win. 

This game against the Mystics was also neck-and-neck till the second quarter, when the Fever decided to just get on with it and pulled away with a 31-21 quarter. It was not over for the Mystics, as they had their chance to come back with the Fever having their brain fade moments when they conceded 12 points at the beginning of the quarter without scoring any of their own. With just a 2-point lead and 6 minutes of play left, it was trending towards another close loss for the Fever.

Kelsey Mitchell was not in a mood to lose another one as she came in clutch in that last quarter with 9 points and 2 steals. The Fever kept their calm and were rewarded with a win to start off their Commissioners Cup campaign. Despite the win, White still thought they could get more involvement from Aliyah Boston, who scored 10 points on the day with great efficiency, as she failed to miss any of her shots.

White said, “I still think we got to get AB (Aaliyah Boston)  more touches. Um, she doesn’t have to score it, but we’ve got to—we’ve got to be on time and on target in our passes to her, but facilitating through AB in multiple areas on the floor opens up things for us so much, so we’ve got to be more intentional with that too.”

Boston is the most efficient scorer on the team who has played a significant amount of minutes, with a 67.6 scoring percentage from the field. She has been the most physical player for the Fever and has been dominating the paint but has received comparatively fewer opportunities with 10 attempts per game in this season so far.

She has had a high number of attempts on alternate games, against the Mystics, she had just five in the last game; she had 10. Her best game came against the New York Liberty, where she had 19 attempts while scoring 27 points. She is the best contributor on the team with 1.7 win shares this season so they will only improve if she has more of the ball. Her assists have contributed the most points, bar Caitlin Clark with 60 so more ball with her will only increase their output going forward.

Clark’s Replacement Steps Up with Game-Changing Impact

One of the highlights against the Mystics was that Sydney Colson was back from her injury. She started this game while the emergency replacement, Aari McDonald, came off the bench. McDonald ended up having more minutes on the court, playing 27 minutes, scoring 7 points while going 2/7 on the field and providing a team-high 5 assists  and 2 steals. Colson played 16 minutes and contributed 7 points and 3 assists while going 2-3 from the field. 

Granted, Colson was more efficient; both complimented each other to provide some stability for the Indiana Fever. The one stat McDonald was ahead in was drawing fouls. She baited the Mystics into five fouls, catapulting her to the top 10 in the stat in the entire league in just one game. She even received praise from the coach after the game in the dressing room.

White told the new entrant, “You came in and you impacted the ball game. You settled us down. You were aggressive. Your defense set the tone.”

Their defense was also significantly better in this game, holding the Mystics to 1-of-10 from three-point range while forcing the Mystics to 15 turnovers. They limited their turnovers to just 10, which is below their league average of 13. McDonald also shared her experience debuting for the Fever. 

“My style of play is just playing fast,” McDonald said postgame. “When I was at home watching games, Indiana was one of the teams that I would watch, and I was like, ‘I can kind of see myself playing.’ Great system, and I’m happy that they made me comfortable enough to play my game.”

White’s system has faced its share of growing pains in her first year as head coach, but against Washington, everything seemed to come together. Following a cohesive performance with 21 assists on 30 shots, the Indiana Fever showed a newfound rhythm against Washington, a quality absent without Clark in previous matchups. In the meantime, Indiana will rely on McDonald’s pace, defensive strength, and experience to navigate this period. Boston will hopefully be integrated into the offense more going forward, as White has said. With Clark’s re-evaluation set for June 9, the Fever are looking to carry this momentum into their next game against the Chicago Sky on June 7, hoping to prove they’re more than just a one-star team.