MINNEAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark may have been missing, but Natasha Howard and her Indiana Fever teammates more than made up for her absence on both ends of the court.
Howard had 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists Tuesday night as the Fever defeated the Minnesota Lynx 74-59 in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup final.
Indiana played without Clark, the reigning rookie of the year who was announced Monday as a starter for this month’s WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis but has been sidelined since June 24 with a strained groin. The absence of their sharp-shooting guard didn’t slow down the Fever, who overcame an early 13-point deficit with balanced scoring and a stout defensive performance against the team with the best record in the league at 14-2.
“You’ve got to have the confidence in yourself and the confidence in your teammates to allow someone else to step up in those moments, and I think that this group is learning that,” said Fever coach Stephanie White, whose team is 8-8.
Howard, the league’s defensive player of the year in 2019, held reigning defensive player of the year Napheesa Collier to 12 points on 6-for-18 shooting. Collier, second in All-Star voting to Clark, also had five of 16 turnovers committed by Minnesota, last year’s WNBA runner-up to the New York Liberty.