Storm tops Fever after shutting down Caitlin Clark in the second half.
Ewell Loyd scored 23 of her season-high 34 points in the first half and played the most of the game with a swollen left eye, and the Seattle Storm kept Caitlin Clark to three points in the second half of an 89-77 victory against the Indiana Fever on Thursday night.
Seattle (11-6) moved to 2-0 in the first half of a WNBA-record nine-game homestand that will not see the Storm leave until mid-July.
Clark ended with 15 points and seven assists in front of another sold-out crowd, many of whom wore various No. 22 jerseys with her name on the back.
But Loyd was the one who put on the show.
“We knew it was coming, and it arrived in a storm. In a barrage. “We know she can rattle off points,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn stated.
Loyd scored five three-pointers in the first 20 minutes, and her 23 first-half points were the second-highest total in the WNBA this season.
She also missed nearly five minutes of the half due to an unintended strike around the left eye late in the first quarter.
Loyd finished with six three-pointers and hit 10 of 15 attempts overall.
It was her second game this season with at least 30 points, both against Indiana.
Loyd had gone four consecutive games without scoring 20 points, including a loss to Las Vegas in which she missed all nine shots and finished with one point.
“I feel great. I felt great earlier. Sometimes they just don’t go in,” Loyd explained.
Clark and the Fever played to a sold-out Climate Pledge Arena for the second time in five weeks, with over 18,000 attendees.
This time, the crowd included Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, Walter Jones, J.P Crawford from the Seattle Mariners, and Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks.She has 23 career games with 30 or more points, tying Tina Charles for sixth place in league history.
Seattle made the night difficult for Indiana’s star rookie, particularly in the second half, when Clark was frequently forced to give up the ball due to the Storm’s pick-and-roll defence.
She took just two shots after halftime and completed the game 4 for 9.
There were other times when Clark was available but teammates couldn’t find her.
“When you’re playing off a ball screen a lot and get blitzed, you’re going to have to give the ball away. “That’s just how it goes,” Clark explained.