Caitlin Clark beaten at her own game by Jewell Loyd in WNBA showdown

Usually, it is Caitlin Clark draining 3-pointers on demand, but the Indiana Fever sensation was upstaged by Jewell Loyd and the Seattle Storm on Thursday.

The 30-year-old was in sensational form at Climate Pledge Arena, racking up 34 points and five rebounds en-route to a resounding 89-77 victory over the Fever. Loyd was electric in the first half, nailing five threes before half time to put the Storm in command.

Seattle led by 14 at the half and held off an attempted fightback in the third quarter to cruise to victory, improving to 11-6 on the season. Head coach Noelle Quinn paid tribute to Loyd's rare ability to rapidly rack up points from beyond the arc.

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“I’ve played with Jewell and now coaching her, I’ve seen it time and time again,” Quinn said. “We talk about the law of averages and we talk about someone who continues to work on her craft at a high level. She stays the course. We knew it was coming and when it comes, it comes in a storm and a barrage. We know she can rattle off a lot of points.

“Today I thought she was reading the game really well and then when she gets in a flow, we talked about how she’s unstoppable. I’ve been a part of some great moments with her. It’s reminiscent of what I’ve seen from her time and time again. It’s about being patient. It’s about putting the work in and the game rewards you when you do that.”

Loyd told a sold-out crowd of 18,343 “If you guys come for a show, I’ll give you one,” before adding in her post-game press conference: “I feel good. I felt good before. Sometimes they just don't go in."

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Meanwhile, it was a frustrating night for Fever rookie superstar Clark, who finished with 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists. The storm limited Clark to just three points in the second half, with the former Iowa standout repeatedly getting open but her teammates could not feed her the ball.

“When you're playing off a ball screen a lot and you get blitzed you're just going to have to give the ball up. That's just kind of how it rolls,” Clark said.

“We’re competitors. We want to win. It didn’t ever really feel great out there tonight even when we cut it to nine. It just didn’t feel like it was flowing too well."

The Fever dropped to 7-12 on the season, sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference ahead of Sunday's road game against the Phoenix Mercury and Tuesday's trip to Sin City to face the Las Vegas Aces. The Storm are back in action on Saturday against the Dallas Wings.