To say that the series finale between the Las Vegas Aces and the Indiana Fever was a pretty physical contest would be an understatement. Game 3 of Round 1 was contested right till the end as the Aces edged out the Fever 94-83. However, a late incident in the paint left Caitlin Clark with blood on her lip and teeth, and the Fever guard left for the locker room with a towel over her mouth.
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The incident happened with around 3:16 left in the fourth quarter. Clark was attempting a rebound when the Aces’ Jewell Loyd hit her elbow on the Fever Guard’s face while coming down. Clark immediately clutched her mouth and went down to the floor. After getting attended to on the sidelines, Clark headed to the tunnel for treatment, but returned before the ball was inbounded again, per the Sporting Tribune’s Arion Armeniakos.
Upon returning, Clark showed her still-bloodied mouth to the referee by pulling her upper lip up, but no foul was called. Stephanie White, who had appeared animated almost the entire game, protested this physical play on Clark, but Indiana’s call for a review went unheeded because no foul was called.
Senior writer for The Athletic, Chris Vannini, commended Clark’s effort to come back quickly in the game.
“Caitlin Clark may have lost a tooth on an elbow and is right back in the game. Hockey player,” Vannini wrote in an X post.
WNBA commentator Skip Bayless echoed that point.
“Caitlin just took an elbow in the mouth from Jewel Lloyd, shows the ref her bloody teeth; no flagrant. Did not look intentional. This is an extremely physical basketball game,” wrote Bayless in an X post.
The physical game saw a high foul rate from both teams. Indiana committed 27 personal fouls, while the Aces had 19. Stephanie White was handed a technical foul in the second quarter itself for protesting an apparent no-call in an incident involving Lexie Hull. When Hull got tangled up with Aces’ Brianna Turner, White got frustrated as a foul was called against Hull, who also pointed out at the time that it was her arm that was grabbed by Turner.
The Aces ultimately held on to win Game 3 and advance to Round 2 of the playoffs. A’ja Wilson finished as the top scorer for the team with 36 points. Chelsea Gray finished with 23, while Jackie Young added 18.
The Fever were led by Kelsey Mitchell, who scored 23 points, and Caitlin Clark with 18 points. Aliyah Boston contributed another 19, but it just wasn’t enough to turn the tide, as the Aces, the defending champs, took it all in clutch time.
The Aces are well on their way to defending their title. For the Fever, another promising season comes to an end.