Caitlin Clark nearly has triple-double, leads Fever past Seattle Storm

The Storm's first road trip of the season ended with a second straight loss - an 89-78 defeat against the Indiana Fever on Sunday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

"We battled on this road trip," coach Sonia Raman said, noting Seatle's 89-82 win May 10 at Connecticut followed by an 86-73 loss Wednesday at Toronto. "I wanted us to be road warriors going into it. Obviously, we wanted some different results on the road than we got, but I think our process was good and we're showing the growth."

Before their latest setback, the Storm lost Dominque Malonga, who was placed in concussion protocol and missed her first game of the season.

Without the second-year center, who leads the team in scoring (16.0 points per game) and rebounds (7.3), the short-handed Storm didn't have enough firepower to keep pace with the Caitlin Clark-led Fever, who entered the game second in the WNBA in scoring at 97.7 points per game.

In addition to Malonga, Seattle was missing forward Ezi Magbegor (foot) and forward Katie Lou Samuelson (knee).

However, help is on the way.

After helping Valencia Basket win the Liga Femenina Endesa championship, rookie Awa Fam wrapped up her season in Spain and is poised to make her Storm debut.

"We're looking to having her … very soon," said Raman, who didn't give a specific date on Fam's arrival.

The heralded 6-foot-4 center taken No. 3 overall in the 2026 WNBA draft can't arrive soon enough for the Storm, who rank next to last in the league in scoring (80.7 ppg) and struggled to slow down Indiana, which was without injured All-Star center Aliyah Boston (right lower leg).

Led by Clark, who nearly posted a triple double and finished with 21 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in 24 minutes, the Fever outscored the Storm 32-19 in the first quarter.

Clark was sensational while scoring eight points, dishing three assists and draining two of her trademark logo threes in a fast-paced first quarter that thrilled the crowd of 14,505.

Seattle held Indiana to 23, 22 and 12 points respectively in the next three quarters but couldn't close the gap.

The Storm trailed 55-44 at halftime and fell behind by 20 points (89-69) late in the fourth quarter when the Fever sent their starters to the bench.

"We just had to settle down on both ends," Raman said. "On the offensive end, we were getting good looks and we were right there. (Had) a couple bobbles and a couple misses at the rim that kind of impacted us on the other end. It's tough to set your transition defense against them, but we made some adjustments as well.

"Some of the actions they were running, we just tried to lean into some of our principles and some adjustments to try to take some of the easy stuff away. I think the hunger was there and the effort was there, but we just had to settle down after that first quarter."

The Storm also had to find ways to score without Malonga.

Veteran guard Natisha Hiedeman picked up the slack offensively while breaking out of a prolonged three-point shooting slump. She connected on one of nine shots from long range before Sunday and finished with a season-high 19 points on 7-for-18 shooting, including three three-pointers.

"I loved how aggressive she was," Raman said. "From start to finish, she battled. She was aggressive and looking to be a scoring playmaker. Finding her teammates and understanding when it's time for her to take the shot herself and really pushing the right buttons out there and making the reads and getting her teammates organized on huddles, dead balls and free throws. Really good leadership from her."

Meanwhile, Flau'jae Johnson added 14 points, six rebounds and four blocks, Zia Cooke chipped in 13 points and four assists, and Jade Melbourne added 12 points and three assists for Seattle, which shot 35.2% from the floor and 26.1% (6 of 23) on three-pointers.

The Fever (2-2) captured their first home win and shot 46.3% from the field thanks in part to Kelsey Mitchell and Sophie Cunningham, who each had 17 points.

Seattle's inability to keep it close, particularly in the second half, led to questions about how it's going to snap its two-game skid.

"No. 1 is just playing with more pride and make sure we're sticking together and going out there and just being ourselves," Cooke said. "We just get in our heads a little bit. This next game we just need to make sure we stick together and we play together."

The Storm (1-3), which fell into a two-way tie for 13th in the 15-team league standings, return for a four-game homestand, which starts Wednesday against Connecticut (0-4).

"We know what we need to keep working on, and we'll get back at it going into our next game," Raman said. "First step is fly home and take care of our bodies, recover, and then we're right into practice. We're going to get better."

Note

• The Storm promoted developmental players Taina Mair and Taylor Thierry to the active roster Sunday.

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