Indiana Fever lose to Liberty with out Caitlin Clark forward of All-Star weekend

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NEW YORK – The Indiana Fever fell to the New York Liberty of their last recreation earlier than the All-Star break this weekend as star guard Caitlin Clark was sidelined with a groin damage.

Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 24 factors, 11 rebounds and 7 assists and Sabrina Ionescu added 15 factors and 9 assists within the 98-77 win over the Fever on Wednesday night time.

New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart (30) blocks a shot by Indiana Fever's Natasha Howard (6) through the second half of a WNBA basketball recreation Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photograph/Frank Franklin II)

The Liberty managed many of the recreation as Clark was ruled out simply earlier than tip-off with a groin damage, marking her third absence of the season on account of damage.

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"Look, we’ve confronted adversity. There’s little doubt about it. However we’ve additionally grown by way of it and we’ve talked about it from day one – it doesn't matter what retains coming at us – and each staff within the league has confronted some kind of adversity," Fever head coach Stephanie White mentioned after the sport.

"We’ve obtained to cease speaking about constructing consistency and we’ve obtained to start out doing it. We’ve obtained to know that each single day we’re going to see opponents' greatest pictures and we’ve obtained to be prepared for it. After which we’ve obtained to seek out I feel some kind of canine in us, proper? We play exhausting and at occasions we will be disruptive and be actually good on the defensive finish, and on the finish of the day, that’s obtained to be constant for us."

White mentioned the staff is on the lookout for a "reset" heading into the WNBA All-Star break which shall be hosted by Indiana starting on Friday. Clark is because of compete within the 3-point contest, alongside Ionescu, and was named a captain in Saturday’s All-Star Recreation.

Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark, third from left, and Sophie Cunningham react with teammates to a three-point shot by New York Liberty's Marine Johannes through the second half of a WNBA basketball recreation Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photograph/Frank Franklin II)

FEVER COACH SAYS CAITLIN CLARK'S ALL-STAR GAME APPEARANCE UP IN THE AIR AS TEAM FOCUSES ON 'LONG-TERM' HEALTH

However her newest setback has raised questions on Clark’s availability for the weekend.

"No dialogue but about this weekend," White advised reporters earlier than the sport. "There was imaging executed and clearly, we're ruling her out for tonight however there hasn't been any dialogue past tonight."

Clark is coping with her second groin damage of the 12 months. White mentioned she doesn't consider that Clark’s newest damage, which was sustained within the last minutes of Tuesday night time’s win over the Connecticut Solar, is identical as her earlier damage. Clark has additionally missed 5 video games early into the season due to a quad damage.

"I am probably not certain that it is a re-injury as a lot as a special type of damage. I do know oftentimes whenever you're working with accidents within the groin and the quad and the hamstring and all of these issues, there's simply – they're all type of tied collectively and it is not at all times only one factor."

Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark watches as gamers heat up earlier than a WNBA basketball recreation between the New York Liberty and the Fever Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photograph/Frank Franklin II)

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The Fever dropped to 4-6 in video games with out Clark after Wednesday night time's loss. Kelsey Mitchell led Indiana with 16 factors. The Fever will return from the All-Star break on Tuesday the place they may face the Liberty in Brooklyn once more.