Boston leads Fever over Fire without Caitlin Clark | JQJO

Indianapolis — Aliyah Boston scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Indiana Fever to a 90-73 win over the Portland Fire on Wednesday night after the team ruled Caitlin Clark out with a back injury less than two hours before tipoff, her first missed game of the season. Boston returned after sitting out Sunday’s 89-78 win over Seattle. Kelsey Mitchell added 21 points, Lexie Hull had a perfect shooting night with 16 points (4-for-4 from the field, including four 3-pointers, and 4-of-4 on free throws), and Tyasha Harris made her first start in Clark’s place, finishing with seven assists, two steals and no turnovers while going 0-for-6 shooting. The Fever improved to 3-2.

Portland — Bridget Carleton scored 12 of her 16 points in the first half and Sug Sutton finished with 14 on 6-of-8 shooting for the expansion Fire, who fell to 2-3. Sarah Ashlee Barker’s midrange jumper trimmed Portland’s deficit to 32-30 with 5:46 left in the second quarter, but Indiana then scored 21 of the next 28 points to take a 16-point lead into halftime. The Fever shot 55 percent in the first half (18 of 33), outscored Portland 13-6 at the free-throw line and had 13 assists before intermission, and they maintained double-digit leads through the second half. Rookie Nyadiew Puoch was helped to the bench after struggling to put weight on her right leg late in the third quarter, walked to the locker room and did not return; she was scoreless in 20 minutes.