Fever beats Atlanta 83-80 in preseason finale

INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark’s home debut in Indianapolis was a winning one.

The Indiana Fever defeated the Atlanta Dream 83-80 on Thursday in the team’s only home preseason game.

NaLyssa Smith scored 21 points, while Caitlin Clark added 12, and Aliyah Boston and Katie Lou Samuelson scored 11 each in the Fever’s final tune-up before the regular season. Clark had eight rebounds and six assists in his first game in front of the home crowd.

The Dream challenged the league’s top draft pick with tough closeouts, defenders ripping the ball out of his hands and a physical style to knock Clark out of his spot.

The result: Clark missed her first two shots and her first four 3-pointers and her new teammates struggled to take advantage of her crisp passes in the paint, putting the Fever into an early 18-8 deficit.

But Clark helped the Fever overcome an early double-digit deficit and when she knocked down the long 3 with 2:17 left in the third, Indiana led 68-60.

Atlanta had a chance to tie the game after a timeout with 19 seconds left, but the Fever tightened up the defense, forcing a shot clock violation to seal the victory.

Indiana will travel to Connecticut to open the season on Tuesday, May 14, then return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the regular season home opener on Thursday, May 16. This match can be viewed for free on WTHR.

As the local television home of the Indiana Fever, WTHR/WALV will broadcast 17 Fever games during the upcoming season.

The broadcast schedule will include the home opener against the New York Liberty on Thursday, May 16.

Ten of the games will be broadcast live for free on WTHR, and seven of the games will be on WALV, which carries MeTV programming and is on channels 13.3 and 46.1.

RELATED: Where to find WALV on cable/streaming

• Thursday May 16 — 7 p.m. New York — WITH
• Wednesday May 22 — 10 p.m. @ Seattle — WITH
• Saturday May 25 — 9 p.m. @ Las Vegas — WITH
• Thursday, May 30 — 7 p.m. Seattle — WITH
• Saturday, June 1 — 1 p.m. Chicago — WALV
• Sunday June 2 — 7 p.m. @ New York — WALV
• Monday, June 10 — 7 p.m. @ Connecticut — WITH
• Thursday, June 13 — 7 p.m. Atlanta — WITH
• Sunday June 23 — 6 p.m. @ Chicago — WALV
• Thursday June 27 — 10 p.m. @ Seattle — WALV
• Wednesday July 10 — Noon Washington — WITH
• Monday August 26 — 7:30 p.m. @ Atlanta — WITH
• Wednesday, September 4 — 7 p.m. Los Angeles — WALV
• Sunday, September 8 — 4 p.m. Atlanta — WITH
• Wednesday, September 11 — 7 p.m. Las Vegas — WALV
• Sunday, September 15 — 3 p.m. Dallas — WALV
• Thursday, September 19 — 7 p.m. @ Washington — WITH

Additionally, 36 Fever games will be broadcast nationally this season.