Mitchell leads Fever past Tempo 101-95; Sykes returns for Toronto after 2 months

Kelsey Mitchell led all scorers with 29 points as the Indiana Fever held on for a 101-95 win over the Toronto Tempo on Tuesday.

Superstar Caitlin Clark had 24 points and seven assists as Indiana (25-13) won its fifth in a row. Dozens of fans at Scotiabank Arena wore Clark jerseys.

Brittney Sykes had 15 points, five assists and two rebounds in her return to the Tempo (10-24) lineup after missing two months of the season due to injury.

All-star Marina Mabrey had 22 points as Toronto lost its 11th straight game. Reserve Aneesah Morrow had a double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds, a new franchise record.

Sykes was out with a left plantar fascia injury she suffered in a June 16 game against the Fever.

Toronto dropped 10 straight games without her in the lineup.

The Tempo were in the mix for a playoff spot before the skid but now they have the third-worst record in the WNBA, ahead of the Connecticut Sun and Seattle Storm. Both of those teams have already been mathematically eliminated from the post-season.

Takeaways

Fever: The highest-scoring team in the WNBA lived up to its 96.2 points per game heading into Tuesday’s tilt. Indiana dominated scoring from range, going 11 for 25 (44 per cent) on three-pointers and had 50 points in the paint.

Tempo: Although Toronto never held a lead and trailed by as many as 17 points, there were some promising statistics. The Tempo had 22 second-chance points to the Fever’s nine, they outrebounded the visitors 41-32 and their bench had 38 points to Indiana’s 20.

Key moment

Mabrey made a three-pointer with just seconds left on the clock and Toronto trailing by four but referees whistled the shot dead for palming.

Key stat

The Tempo’s offence continued to struggle, making 34 of 87 (39.1 per cent) field-goal attempts, including 12 of 37 (32.4 per cent) from three-point range.

Up next

Fever: Visit the Dallas Wings on Thursday.

Tempo: Visit the Washington Mystics on Wednesday.