how Clark amazed with 31 points propelling fever to the best defense in do and the NBA CJ I Joe the first three Indiana Fever Chicago sky games were defined by their competitive nature with those June matchups being decided by a combined 10 points that wasn't the case Friday though in the team's fourth and final meeting of the regular season the fever 16-6 Cruis to a 100 to 81 Victory and led by as many as 27 to reach the 500 Mark for the first time since May 2022 when they were just two to two Indiana's 103 straight games under 500 was the third longest streak in WNBA history per Elias Sports Bureau the last time the franchise was 500 or better in the month of August that would be 2016 the legendary Tamika Catchings final season behind their largest margin of Victory this season the fever also ensured a win of the season series against the sky 3 to one it feels good to be sitting at 500 right now Indiana Coach Christy side said it's been a really long time since the fever side at 500 I'm just really proud of that and where we are from where we started started but I never had any doubts that this is where we could be Indiana has been one of the hottest teams in the league since the Olympic break improving to 5 to one in N vanan by hitting the century mark on Friday a season high in scoring the fever demonstrated once more how they've had the best offense in the league since mid June and how they become one of the wnba's most dangerous teams rookie sensation Caitlyn Clark was spellbinding with 31 points a career-high and 12 assists she is the fifth player in Doug NBA history with 30 points and 10 assists in a game in third to achieve that statline in regulation Chicago which held a Barbie night in honor of rookie star Angel ree has lost five straight games and six of seven in the second half Michela Onan were at Lind Allen pce the sky with 20 and 19 points respectively here are three takeaways from the contest fever's red hot offense shows no letup Indiana has had the best offensive rating in the league since June 13 and Friday's performance will only boost that number after a starting slow and falling behind by 13 the fever got into a Groove with their bread and butter by pushing the pace and converting from the three-point Arc Mitchell 23 points led the charge with 18 first half points her most in a half this season but she and Clark combined for six for nine shooting from three in the first 20 minutes it was more of the same in the second half allowing the fever to manage one of their best three-point shooting nights of the Season 13 for 29 Clark who on top of going five of nine from three recorded her 11th double double of the season and passed Tia penacho for the most games by a duve MBA rookie with at least 10 assists nine we'll get the headlines for our career night but the team was also quick to credit the defensive contributions of teny vaganel who was a team best plus 29 Off the Bench Lexi Hall who kept up her recent hot shooting three for four from deep and Nelissa Smith whose 11 third quarter points stabilized the fever when Aaliyah Boston went to the bench in foul trouble Mitchell's productive first half helped ensure her sixth consecutive game with at least 20 points extending a franchise record to see where we are now I think the sky is the limits for us Mitchell sa of the offense our offense and what you see and our Fierce competitiveness is just kind of in our DNA we wanted to stay like that the sky had all the momentum early Friday and established an offensive flow that allowed them to build an 24 to 11 lead coach Teresa Weatherspoon preached a next player up mentality going into the game with top scorer trenity Carter health and safety protocols absent and Allan and Onin were answered the call starting the game a combined seven for n from the field and three for three from the three-point Arc at the half where the sky were down only five those two combined for 28 of Chicago's 42 points leag game execution was a sticking point for the sky in recent games but Friday was more of a case of the wheels falling off the fever pulled within three by the end of the first then won the middle two quarters by a combined 19 point points even when Chicago was within single digits in the third quarter it never felt like Indiana had really lost control since the season resumed Weatherspoon has been imploring her team to be more disciplined defensively to know and execute the Scout allowing 100 points the most the guy have allowed all season and letting the fever get pretty much whatever they wanted offensively was the opposite of that we have a lot of things we need to correct and it starts on the defensive side of the ball weather spoon said we're not being disruptive we're allowing teams to get shots where they want it when they want it defense is the hardest D thing you're going to play in this game