“Our goal is to reach the playoffs.” Caitlin Clark, head coach Christie Sides, and every Indiana Fever player have set their target for this season. However, that is not all that they have been doing. The Indiana Fever has been rewriting the franchise’s history as we speak. This has been possible all through the aid of their first-overall lottery picks– Aliyah Boston (2023) and Clark (2024). Still, when it comes to loading up the stat sheets, they are not the only Fever members to contribute. At least since the second half resumed.

Since their return from the break, Indiana has won 4 of 5 games. They have a determined mindset on how they want to continue the momentum going into the playoffs. Currently, they are standing as the seventh playoff seed. With one win, they will enter the .500+ zone, giving the Phoenix Mercury a competition for the sixth spot. While the duo of Clark and Boston has been the focus since the beginning of the season, here are two more players contributing to the team with their best selves.

The Indiana Fever star that might transform into a veteran

Sue Bird recently mentioned on her podcast A Touch More that she would not want to face the Fever in the playoffs. The WNBA legend is a 5x Olympic gold medalist and a 4x WNBA champion. She also has a considerable number of jewels to put on her crown. Still, calling Indiana a dangerous team, she pointed out one thing that separates them from the rest– their pace. While Caitlin Clark is definitely responsible for speeding their games, there is another star from the 12-player roster who is ahead of her in this aspect. That is Kelsey Mitchell.

Out of the 4 games won post the Olympics, in all but 2 of those games, Mitchell came out as the team leader in scoring. Clark leading the rest. Consequently, in the Fever’s last game against the Connecticut Sun, Mitchell made franchise history. She became the only player to log 20+ points in five consecutive games. In the same timeline, she is also leading the league with 25.6 ppg.

On the floor, she is usually the only person standing right under their basket. The rest are trailing her as she catches a full-court pass from Caitlin Clark and makes fast break points. The 7-year veteran is currently averaging 18.3 points per game. What makes her even more dangerous is that she can shoot threes (52.6% in the last five games) and can also drive all the way into the paint for a layup. If she sees an open player, she has also learned how to pass the ball. This adds to the team’s value of selflessness while also catching the opponents on their feet.

Working along with her is another Fever veteran of 2 years, Lexie Hull. Coming off the bench in Indiana’s rotations, Lexie Hull had proven her defensive skills in the very first half. But since their return, she has also shown the basketball world that she is just as good of an offensive player. Her recent performance even persuaded Sides to pull her from the bench and put her into the starter position against the Sun when the usual third Katie Lou Samuelson was out.

How has Caitlin Clark also affected another Indiana player?

If there is one thing that the No. 22 guard does for her team it’s that she involves everyone. Through this same experimentation, she has found one reliable Indiana Fever mermaid to aid the offense of the team. That too, in the same game that Caitlin Clark has made her name– shooting the three-pointers. At the start of the season, Hull only managed an average of 2.73 points in Indiana’s 26 games.

But in the second half, she brought the heat to the floor by catching the go-ahead passes with amazing accuracy from beyond the arc. In this span, she has bumped up her averages with 11.4 points in five games. She is also 70% from the deep and over 64% from the field. In the game against the Seattle Storm, she made a season-high 22 points. These were with 6 of 7 from the three-point line and 8 of 10 from the field.

Indeed, Hull did not disappoint when she started her second game for the season. The Sun is one of the most defensive teams in the league right now. On Wednesday, the former Cardinal was on her foot, at all times. She grabbed 8 rebounds and made a block in the series finale. But, her defensive work was also visible on the court as she deflected passes and shots from Connecticut. On the offensive end, she made 4 of 6 threes.

One of which became a memorable shot as she executed it over Sun’s Alyssa Thomas, barely balanced, to beat the buzzer. When a reporter asked Hull in the postgame presser if she had made any changes to her schedule, Caitlin Clark answered before Hull. “She has started hanging out more with me,” said the rookie guard, showing how the team is coming closer even off of the floor.

But if we want to discuss how Caitlin Clark has managed to make Indiana a team worth watching out for, it is that now they have become selfless. Their big Aliyah Boston also impresses the spectators with her passes. In the last five games, she has made a season-high 8 assists twice. Of course, she has also been a powerful force in the paint as she continues to fight the worst defenders in the league. It will be interesting to see how this group performs against one of the best rebounding and quick teams in the league the Chicago Sky in their last meeting for the season.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.