INDIANAPOLIS -- Chelsea Gray made two buzzer-beating 3-pointers after Caitlin Clark's uncharacteristic mistakes, the first to force overtime and the second to give the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces an 86-84 victory over the Indiana Fever on Thursday night.
Clark missed two free throws with seven seconds left in regulation and Indiana up by three, then lost the ball with seven seconds to go in overtime and the Fever ahead by one point. Clark had 20 points and eight assists along with eight turnovers.
A'ja Wilson had 26 points, 13 rebounds and the key defensive stop against Clark that set up Gray's winner. Jackie Young added 22 points, including a franchise-record 15 in a row to close the first half and open the second. Gray had 11 points, hitting three 3s.
Gray credited Young and Wilson for positioning her for the buzzer-beating shots.
"We had a play, it wasn't for me, it wasn't drawn up that way. Aliyah Boston deflected it -- it was a pass to me and it was going to be a different shot," Gray said of the end of regulation. "But Jackie, like, she kept playing, hit it back to me, and I looked up at the clock, only had one second, one dribble pull, knocked it down.
"And then overtime, well, first of all, A'ja had a great stop defensively. Like, we always say it's going to come down to our defense. And she had a great stop defensively, got it to me on the outlet. I knew [coach Becky Hammon] ... wasn't going to call a timeout. So I hit it to Jackie and could go score the basketball. But she hunted me on the 3-point line, [I] looked up at the clock again, knocked it down. Woo! Amazing."
Las Vegas overcame a 20-point first-half deficit, a three-point deficit near the end of regulation and a two-point deficit near the end of overtime to salvage a win in the three-game season series.
Clark took the blame for the Fever's stinging loss.
"Obviously, it just can't happen," Clark said of her eight turnovers and the two missed free throws. "Those are free throws I usually make and certainly frustrating. Obviously, one of them gives us a two-possession lead and kind of caused my pain there, for sure, so that's on me."
Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever with 28 points but missed a late free throw in regulation before Clark's misses. Boston added 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Las Vegas erased its big deficit by closing the first half on a 15-0 run to cut a 42-22 deficit to 42-37. Young scored the final 13 points of the half, the first basket of the second half and five of the first seven points in the second half to give the Aces a 44-42 lead.
Indiana finally found its shooting touch midway through the fourth quarter.
It rallied from a 64-55 deficit with 6:16 left and led 75-72 when Gray hit the first of her two buzzer-beaters. Gray did it again in overtime, knocking down a shot to erase an 84-83 deficit. Both plays withstood replay reviews.
The game was stopped for several minutes with 4:38 left in the third quarter when security escorted a woman, who was sitting in the front row directly across from the Aces' bench, out through a tunnel. A few minutes later, she was assisted back to her seat and two men who were seated near her were removed.
The Fever issued a statement that said one fan was removed then elected not to return when it was determined the fan conduct policy had not been violated. Young told reporters someone had been "chirping" all night and at that point, she thought he had crossed the line. Young declined to elaborate on what was said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
