Caitlin Clark, Fever rally to beat Diana Taurasi, Mercury - ESPN

PHOENIX — Caitlin Clark had 15 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds and the Indiana Fever rallied for an 88-82 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday.

Clark was just 4-of-14 from the field and 2-of-10 from 3-point range. But she made a pair of free throws with 19.9 seconds to play to put the Fever up three. Indiana had trailed by as many as 15 in the first half.

Kelsey Mitchell's basket with 35 seconds to play gave Indiana the lead for good. She made two free throws with 12.9 seconds to go to seal it. Mitchell scored 16 points, all in the second half.

Aliyah Boston had 17 points and eight rebounds, and NaLyssa Smith had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Fever, who closed out June 7-4 after going 1-8 in May. Temi Fagbenle had 10 points for Indiana.

«When the challenges came, we stepped up and we attacked them head-on. I couldn't be more proud of my entire team,» Fever coach Christie Sides said.

Clark played all but 33 seconds in the game despite not feeling well, Sides said.

Brittney Griner scored 24 points, Diana Taurasi had 19 and Natasha Cloud scored 15 for Phoenix.

Kahleah Copper, who entered Sunday third in the WNBA at 22.7 points per game, scored just seven points on 3-of-15 shooting before fouling out in the final seconds but had most of the responsibility of guarding Clark.

It was the first on-court meeting between Taurasi and Clark. Taurasi, 42, is the WNBA's all-time leading scorer and is in her 20th WNBA season. She was a student at Connecticut when Clark was born. The 22-year-old Fever rookie said before the game Taurasi was one of her idols going back to when she first learned about the WNBA.

When Clark was drafted No. 1 overall after a career at Iowa that saw her lead the Hawkeyes to back-to-back NCAA