Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever came agonizingly close to their first win of the 2024 WNBA season, but the Connecticut Sun pulled away 88-84 Monday evening.

It was a dramatic improvement from the Fever’s debut six days ago, when the Sun handled Indiana, 92-71, in both teams’ season opener.

“I think you can see the progress this team is making, that’s why this one hurts a lot,” Clark said after Monday’s loss.

Clark, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, had some moments of brilliance Monday night, including a 33-foot 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Clark finished with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting, dishing five assists and grabbing three rebounds. She also blocked two shots. She had five turnovers, significantly better than her three assist, 10-turnover performance from her first matchup against the Sun.

Clark did have a scary moment midway through the second quarter Monday when she badly rolled her left ankle and had to go back to the locker room to get it re-taped. She returned to the bench after a few minutes but didn’t go back in until the start of the second half.

Clark said afterward she was fine, but was frustrated because “I started the game off good, then gotta sit out and then wait for halftime, it’s hard to get into a flow.”

Clark’s biggest shot came with 7:17 to play, when she hit a 33-footer that put Indiana in front 70-68. It was her third 3 of the night (she shot 3-of-7 from deep overall). But she had a costly sequence with 3:51 to play and Indiana clinging to a one-point lead when she turned the ball over, fouled to stop the Sun’s transition and then got hit with a technical for complaining to officials.

A few minutes later, her tough layup through traffic with 1:04 to play tied the game at 82-82.

At the end, trailing 86-84 with 11 seconds to play, Indiana missed a layup that could have tied it. Two free throws from Connecticut made it a two possession game, and Indiana couldn’t come back.