INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark scored 20 points and had nine assists while playing nearly the entire game, but the Indiana Fever continued to struggle Thursday night in a 103-88 loss to the Seattle Storm.
Jewell Loyd had 22 points and Skylar Diggins-Smith added 18 points and nine assists as the Storm (5-3) scored a season high in points. Nneka Ogwumike scored 17 for the Storm.
Clark, who had three 3-pointers, played all but four seconds in front of a crowd of 15,022 but could not prevent the Fever from falling to 1-8, the second-worst record in the league.
“The third quarter was when we lost the game,” Clark said. “I just thought our defensive rotations were bad. … It’s not really about our offense. It was our defense. You’re not going to win a basketball game giving up 103.”
Seattle led 47-41 at halftime before opening the third quarter on a 12-2 run. The Storm made 12 of 17 shots in the quarter to outscore the Fever 34-18.
“A lot of it was composure,” Loyd said of the third. “Some of it was being able to get stops. Because we were able to get so many defensive stops, we were able to just flow and make plays. That’s when we’re at our best.”
Loyd, the league’s reigning scoring leader, scored a season-high 32 points in a May 22 home…
