TORONTO (AP) — Kelsey Mitchell scored 16 points in the first quarter and finished with 29 before sitting out the fourth, Caitlin Clark added 24 points and the Indiana Fever beat the Toronto Tempo 101-95 on Tuesday for their fifth straight victory.
Clark and Mitchell have each scored 20 or more in the same game 16 times this season, a WNBA record. Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter did it 15 times with Phoenix in 2008.
Mitchell also scored 20 or more
for the 20th consecutive game, matching Las Vegas' A'ja Wilson for the longest such streak in WNBA history. But after she scored eight points in the span of less than a minute late in the third quarter, she went to the locker room and did not return.
Fever coach Stephanie White said Mitchell got “overheated.”
Aliyah Boston scored 16 points, and Sophie Cunningham made all three 3-point attempts and finished with 13 for the Fever, who never trailed. Indiana has won 10 of 12.
Toronto’s Marina Mabrey cut the gap to 97-93 with back-to-back 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter, but the Tempo got no closer. Mabrey finished with 22 points and Brittney Sykes had 15 in her return from injury, but the slumping Tempo lost their 11th straight.
In the Fever's first visit to Toronto this season, there was a mix of cheers and boos when Cunningham entered the game, and fans cheered when she missed her first free-throw attempt. Cunningham said in an ESPN profile published last month that she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
Late in the fourth, fans cheered when someone holding a banner in support of transgender rights was shown on the video screen during a timeout.
Before the game, a small group gathered near the stadium’s west entrance, offering people the chance to take selfies in front of a banner with Cunningham’s photo.
Mitchell and Mabrey were issued technical fouls after they clashed early in the third.
Aneesha Morrow had 15 points and 16 rebounds for Toronto. Temi Fagbenle scored 13 points and Kiki Rice had 10.
Sykes returned after missing more than two months with a left plantar fascia injury. She hadn’t played since a June 16 loss at Indiana.
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