New York Liberty 90 – Indiana Fever 89 (May 24th, 2025) Game Recap
Source: Andy Lyons / Getty
1. First Quarter
After starting the first three games with the same starting lineup, Stephanie White decided to change the starting lineup. The Indiana Fever’s starting lineup was Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston, and Natasha Howard. The starting lineup for the New York Liberty were Sabrina Ionescu, Natasha Cloud, Leonie Fiebich, Breanna Stewart, and Jonquel Jones. It was a very close and back and forth game to start. The first multiple possession lead in the game came when New York went on a 11-2 run with Stewart capping it with a free throw. Indiana had a five-point burst in six seconds with a Hull layup, Bonner steal off the inbound, and then Hull burying the triple. The final scoring of the quarter came at the foul line with New York’s Rebekah Gardner connecting on both attempts. After ten minutes, Indiana trailed New York 30-29. Stewart and Boston were tied as the leading scorers with 10 points each in the first quarter. The big three of Stewart, Jones, and Ionescu for New York combined to score 26 points in the quarter. Clark was effective after a lackluster game on Thursday night with 7 points and 6 assists in the opening quarter
2. Second Quarter
In the first three games of the season, Indiana played well in the second quarters. This afternoon would be different because of New York flexing its muscles defensively. The Liberty held the Fever to three points in a five-minute stretch and were beating the Fever down the floor for easy baskets in transition. New York’s run during that stretch was 19-3 after DeWanna Bonner made two free throws to put Indiana ahead 31-30. Indiana would chip away at the deficit down to seven points after a free throw from Boston with 41.2 seconds remaining. Stewart drew a foul on Cunningham with 1.4 seconds left in the game to extend the Liberty lead to 55-46 at intermission. Cloud started to get going for New York with 8 points in the quarter, but Ionescu was still hurting the Fever with 7 points. She led all players in scoring at halftime for the Liberty with 15 points. Leading all players in scoring at halftime was Boston with 17 points after a seven-point second quarter. Ionescu, Cloud, Stewart, and Jones combined to score 47 of the 55 points for the Liberty. It was a balanced approve from Indiana with Mitchell chipping in with 8 points, Clark with 7 points, Hull with 7 points, and Cunningham with 5 points.
3. Third Quarter
This afternoon would be the first time this season where we saw the Fever play well to start a half. New York push its advantage to ten points to start the second half, but Indiana started chipping away with stops defensively and getting out in transition. With 3:56 left in the quarter, Indiana was down 65-61 and then Caitlin Clark took over the game. She put the fever on top with a layup with two minutes left in the quarter for the first time since the opening quarter. Boston would give the Fever the lead back with a free throw line jumper, and then Clark closed the quarter with a four-point play and a thirty-four-foot three pointer as the clock hit zero. Indiana possessed a 76-68 advantage after closing the quarter on a 15-3 run. Clark led all players in scoring with 9 points in the quarter followed by Hull with 8 points, Mitchell with 7 points, and Boston with 6 points. Nobody for New York scored more than four points. Boston was leading all players in scoring after three quarters with 23 points and was two rebounds shy of a double-double. As for Clark, she did have a double-double going into the fourth quarter with 16 points and 10 assists. Jones for New York also had a double-double going to the fourth quarter with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Liberty were led by Ionescu with 19 points.
4. Fourth Quarter
The trend for the last two games for the Fever is that they haven’t played well in back-to-back quarters yet. Natasha Howard put Indiana ahead by a game high twelve points with 8:35 to go in the game. New York called a timeout and immediately responded with a 16-2 run to go on top 84-82. During that stretch, it was Jones absolutely killing the Fever. She scored 12 of the 16 points during that three-minute stretch. The Fever tied the game three different times, but they were unsuccessful at taking the lead back. Boston missed a layup with 1:37 left in the game and a hook shot with 54.8 seconds left in the game that would have broken the ties. Ionescu drew a foul on Hull and went to the line with 2.9 seconds left and converted both. Indiana used its reset timeout, but Clark couldn’t get a shot off after Cloud knocked the ball free as Caitlin started to go up to attempt a game winning three-pointer. Indiana falls 90-89 after being outscored 22-12 in the fourth quarter. Jones scored 14 points in the quarter and grabbed four rebounds. Indiana shot 5/22 (22.7%) from the field and 0/6 from three-point range.
5. Top Performers
Jonquel Jones (26p, 12r), Sabrina Ionescu (23p, 5r, 4a), Natasha Cloud (16p, 7r, 6a, 5s, 3b), and Breanna Stewart (16p, 8r, 3a). For Indiana, Aliyah Boston (27p, 13r), Caitlin Clark (18p, 10a, 5r), Kelsey Mitchell (15p, 4a, 3s), and Lexie Hull (15p). For tonight’s full box score, click here.
6. Notes
- Indiana is now 2-2 and 1-2 at home this season
- Indiana has been outscored by the free throw line in each of the last three games, by a total of 24 points
- Opponents are 74/99 (74.7%) from the line compared to 51/81 (63%)
- Indiana has made exactly 7 threes in three of four games
- Indiana outscored New York by 17 points, the most in a quarter in the Breanna Stewart era
- New York is 3-0 and 2-0 on the road this season
- Aliyah Boston recorded her 3rd double-double of the season
- Aliyah Boston’s 27 points are a season high
- Caitlin Clark recorded her 3rd double-double of the season
- Jonquel Jones recorded her 2nd double-double of the season
- Jonquel Jones recorded a season high 26 points
- Natasha Cloud recorded a season high 5 steals
- Sabrina Ionescu recorded a season high 23 points
7. Next Up
Indiana Fever will have some time off between now and their next game. After three days off, they will travel to the nation’s capital and take on the Washington Mystics. Eddie Garrison will have pregame coverage at 7:15pm and then John Nolan and Bria Goss will have the play-by-play at 7:30pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.
New York Liberty 90 – Indiana Fever 89 (May 24th, 2025) Game Recap was originally published on 1075thefan.com
