Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell lead Fever (again); team over .500 for first time since 2019.

DALLAS: The Indiana Fever won their 17th game of the season, defeating the Dallas Wings 100-93 at home to exact revenge for their July setback. Now that they are 17-16 and sixth in the WNBA rankings, the Fever are definitely in the running for the postseason. The following three observations are made: August sees Indiana have a winning record for the first time since 2016. The Fever had been waiting a long time. Specifically, it’s eight years. After defeating the Wings, the Fever improved their record to 17-16, their best since 2016. This is the first August or later that the team has had a winning record.

With this post-Olympic surge, the Fever are on a definite upward trajectory; they have gone 6-1 in the seven games since the league restart, including two wins over teams that have already clinched the playoffs. Now, after eight years of missing the playoffs, the Fever now have a game advantage over the Phoenix Mercury for the No. 6 spot in the playoffs.

Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell combine for 63 points

Kelsey Mitchell continues to extend a franchise record — she notched her seventh-straight 20+ point game, keeping up a Fever record that she already broke three games ago. Mitchell has scored 20 or more points in each of the Fever’s games since the Olympic break.

Mitchell finished the game with 36 points (two off of her career-high of 38) on 12-of-22 shooting from the field. That, paired with rookie Caitlin Clark’s 28 points, gave the Fever an unstoppable backcourt presence against the Wings.

And the duo has been performing like this together since early July — when things really started to click for the Fever. According to the WNBA’s Mark Schindler, Clark and Mitchell have been averaging 44.3 points per game (22.2 for Clark, 22.1 for Mitchell) in the 12 games the Fever have played since the start of July. It’s the highest-scoring duo in the league during that stretch.

Mitchell’s scoring has been paramount for the Fever in this post-Olympic stretch. As a seven-year veteran, Mitchell is the constant the Fever have needed to be successful.

Arike Ogunbowale paces Wings with 30+ points

At one point in the first quarter, after Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale make her fourth 3-pointer, Mitchell didn’t have any words. Instead, she looked over to coach Christie Sides, standing near the Fever bench, and put up her arms in a defeated shrug.

There wasn’t really any way they could guard the All-Star Game MVP. Really, not many people can — she scored 34 points in one half the All-Star game on her way to the MVP nod.

Ogunbowale stands just 5-8, undersized for the WNBA, but she makes up with it for her quickness and playmaking abilities. It showed in the first meeting between Dallas and Indiana — she scored 24 points and added on seven rebounds and seven assists, playing all but 20 seconds in the Wings’ 101-83 win.

This time around, she had 24 points in the first half alone — over half of Dallas’ 46 points in the opening 20 minutes.

Mitchell and guard Lexie Hull shared the duty of guarding Ogunbowale, but the burden mainly fell on Mitchell as Hull was occupied with Wings forward Satou Sabally.

Ogunbowale’s scoring slowed slightly in the second half — just enough that the Fever could maintain a lead at the end of the game. Ogunbowale finished with 34 points on 12-of-25 shooting, including 9-of-16 from 3-point range.