Stephanie White guided the Indiana Fever to a 99-89 win in Game 2 on Tuesday as they avoided elimination. The victory pushed their first-round playoff series against the Las Vegas Aces to a decider on Thursday.
However, the heated exchange between A’ja Wilson and a courtside fan somewhat overshadowed Indiana’s big win.
The superstar forward approached a fan for pointing at her in the fourth quarter. Wilson received a technical foul, while the fan was removed from his seat. However, security allowed him to return to his seat after the Fever determined he had not violated the Fan Code of Conduct.
White addressed the incident during her postgame availability. She emphasized that her team remained focused despite the potential distraction.
“Just talked about poise and composure,” White said at the 4:35 mark. “We had to stay poised. We can’t allow them to use that to fuel them to make a run. We got to maintain our poise and composure. We got to stay locked in to everything that we were doing.”
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The Aces went on an 8-2 run after the Wilson commotion to cut the Fever’s lead to just five points with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter. However, Indiana responded with its own 7-2 run to close out the game.
Caitlin Clark spearheaded the Fever’s attack with 27 points, seven rebounds, 15 assists and five three-pointers. She recorded the most assists in a postseason game in franchise history (15) and tied the WNBA single-game playoff record for most points created (she scored or assisted 58 points).
Kelsey Mitchell produced 26 points, while Aliyah Boston added 22 points, four rebounds and five assists.
Game 3 will be played at Michelob ULTRA Arena, with tip-off scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET on USA Network. White’s team enters the matchup with momentum, but the Aces will go all-in to defend their championship.
Thursday’s winner will advance to the next round and will face either the Golden State Valkyries or the Dallas Wings.
