Clark’s 4th career triple-double leads Fever past Fire

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Caitlin Clark had 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for her fourth career triple-double, and the Indiana Fever won their their fifth straight with a 112-98 victory over the Portland Fire on Friday night.

Kelsey Mitchell also had 26 points for the Fever (19-10), who have won nine of their last 11 and had five straight games with 100 points.

Bridget Carleton had 26 points for the Fire (11-18), who have lost four straight.

The Fever pulled away in the third quarter, going up by 18 points to lead 90-72 heading into the fourth quarter. Makayla Timpson hit a layup that pushed the lead to 10 points to open the fourth.

Portland closed the gap, pulling to 98-88 on Carleton’s 3-pointer with 4:08 left. She had a layup that made it 100-93 to get the Fire even closer. Clark hit free throws to make it 110-96 with just a minute to go and the Fire ran out of time.

There was a pregame rally outside of the Moda Center in support of Sophie Cunningham and her recent comments about barring transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports. A similar rally was held before the Fever’s 105-94 victory at the Seattle Storm on Tuesday.

Cunningham was booed by the Moda Center crowd when she came into the game midway though the first quarter. Shortly thereafter, she hit a 3-pointer that put the Fever up 14-8. Cunningham finished with 13 points.

Megan DiLeo 3-pointer put the Fire up 36-30 but the Fever clawed back a 56-47 lead at the half. Clark led the Fever with 17 first-half points.

The game was a sellout with a Fire-record 19,959 in attendance.

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