The New York Liberty came into Indianapolis riding real momentum with a four-game winning streak built on wins over the Mercury, the Storm twice, and the Aces. None of that mattered once Caitlin Clark caught fire on Tuesday night.

What was supposed to be a marquee test for New York’s star trio turned into a statement win for the Fever, decided well before the final buzzer and shadowed by a suspension storyline that made the night even more chaotic than the score suggested. Even New York’s star trio of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Sabrina Ionescu was outshined by Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston in a 106-92 Fever win.

Indiana’s trio combined for 69 points, with Mitchell leading the way at 28, Clark adding 22, and Boston finishing with 18. New York’s big three matched effort with 52 points of their own, Stewart and Ionescu with 19 each and Jones with 14. But none of that was enough. Fever shot 54% from the field and hit 16 of 25 from three, building a commanding 64-46 halftime lead behind a 13-point second quarter from Clark during a 15-7 Indiana run.

Mitchell’s night added another milestone to an already strong season. She extended her double-digit scoring streak to 48 straight games, a Fever franchise record. Clark’s night carried its own weight too, with her double-double of 22 points and 10 assists tying her for the fourth-most assists in a single WNBA season. This marked the 27th points-assists double-double of Clark’s career, putting her one behind Sue Bird for third-most in league history.

Clark had extra motivation walking into Tuesday. The WNBA had rescinded a technical foul from Saturday’s win over the Sky that would have triggered an automatic suspension and kept her out of this exact game. She made the most of her clearance, though not without some irony.

She picked up a fresh technical during the Liberty game itself, for excessive celebration after a logo three. That technical, her eighth of the season again, means she will now serve an automatic suspension Friday against the Dallas Wings.

Even that wasn’t the biggest storyline coming out of Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Before the opening tip, fans in Indiana’s own building had booed their head coach, and Clark wasn’t about to let that slide once the final buzzer sounded.

Clark and the Fever rally around Stephanie White

The game carried extra weight for a reason that had nothing to do with the Liberty. Head coach Stephanie White had been booed by Indiana’s own fans before tipoff. This was a result of a fallout from criticism she’d faced since Saturday’s win over the Sky, where DiJonai Carrington committed a Flagrant 2 foul on Sophie Cunningham. White drew backlash, including a public call from Indiana’s Lieutenant Governor for her firing, over comments she made defending Carrington before having seen a replay of the play.

Clark didn’t hold back about how that booing made her feel.

“I hated that our fans booed her before the game. That made me a little sick, to be honest,” Clark said, according to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. “We’re going to ride for her, and we’re always going to have her back, and it’s never going to tear our locker room apart.”

Clark added a broader message about the noise surrounding the team.

“Our world loves to hate. We love to divide. That’s all we wanna do. Nobody wants to watch each other succeed… We need to do a better job of uplifting each other,” Clark said, according to OutKick’s Jon Root.

Cunningham, who scored 12 points off the bench, backed her coach too once the game was over.

“We have each other’s backs. Coach loves us,” she said. White herself had addressed the criticism before the game, telling reporters, “We are united. We are connected. We will not be divided.”

Whatever noise had surrounded the program over the previous few days, Tuesday’s win told a clear story. The Fever played for each other, backed their coach publicly, and walked away with one of their biggest results of the season. Now they have to do it again without their best player. Clark serves her one-game suspension Friday when Indiana hosts Dallas, meaning Mitchell and Boston will have to carry the offensive load in her absence during a stretch of the season where every win still matters for playoff positioning.