Caitlin Clark, Fever fall in final seconds to Liberty after controversial no-call

Sports

add

When Caitlin Clark was asked before the season what a successful year would look like for the Indiana Fever in 2025, she didn’t hesitate: “A championship.”

On Saturday, the Fever saw firsthand what a title team looks like with the defending champion New York Liberty visiting Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Liberty will leave town with their undefeated record intact after holding off a second-half Fever comeback attempt to win 90-88, handing Indiana its second straight loss at home.

Before the game, Clark called the matchup a “good gauge” for how her team stacks up against the upper echelon of the league, and the Liberty showed their championship experience by making all of the plays down the stretch to secure a dramatic win.

Tied at 88 with 7.1 seconds left, New York star Sabrina Ionescu drove to the basket and got fouled by Fever guard Lexie Hull. Ionescu hit two free throws to give her team a two-point lead with 2.2 seconds left. With a chance for the Fever to win or tie coming out of a timeout, Clark had her 3-point attempt stripped by Liberty guard Natasha Cloud as the clock ran out.

Clark and her teammates were incensed with the no-call, and she let the refs here about it after the buzzer.

The Liberty remain undefeated!

Indiana doesn’t get a shot off as time expires pic.twitter.com/RGbv3OPt6X

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) May 24, 2025

“I thought (Clark) got fouled. I think it’s pretty egregious what’s been happening to us the last few games,” Fever coach Stephanie White said after the game. “A minus-31 free throw discrepancy, and I might be able to understand it if we were just chucking 3s, but we’re not. We’re attacking he rim, and the disrespect right now for our team is pretty unbelievable.”

For the Liberty, who used a 16-2 fourth-quarter run to set up the late win, Jonquel Jones scored a team-high 26 points with 12 rebounds, Ionescu scored 23 points and Breanna Stewart and Cloud each scored 16 points.

Throughout the game, Clark’s body language spoke volumes. After failing to make a 3-pointer for the first time in her career in Thursday’s win at Atlanta, Clark missed her first seven attempts Saturday. After badly missing a 3 early in the third quarter, Clark dropped her head in disgust as she jogged back on defense.

But as the saying goes, shooters shoot, and that’s what Clark kept doing until she was finally broke through late in the third quarter. With Liberty guard Rebekah Gardner draped all over her, Clark used a step back to free herself for just a moment before nailing a deep 3-pointer while Gardner closed in and fouled her. The four-point play gave Indiana a 73-68 lead with a little over a minute left in the frame, and Clark one-upped that shot drilling a 33-foot 3-pointer to give the Fever an eight-point lead heading into the final frame.

However, the Fever couldn’t hang on down the stretch. Indiana was outscored 22-12 in the fourth quarter and Clark scored just two points in the last frame. Clark finished with 18 points, 10 assists and five rebounds, but shot just 6-for-19 from the field and coughed up a game-high nine turnovers. Aliyah Boston, often on the receiving end of Clark’s passes, added 27 points and 13 rebounds.

(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .