The Indiana Fever kicked off their 2026 regular season Saturday against the Dallas Wings. The Fever narrowly lost to the Wings 107-104 in a game that came down to the final seconds.
Head Coach Stephanie White said the team will need to work more on discipline.
"We're not going to be able to outscore teams in this league. Everybody's too good. You got to defend in multiple positions, and teams expose you if you're undisciplined," White said. "So we've just got to be better. We know that. And the good thing is that it's all correctable."
Both teams notably drew a high number of fouls. The Fever recorded 25 as a team and the Wings a total of 28. White said after last season's frustration over a lack of officiating, there was a push for referees to make more calls.
"This is what we need to clean up some of the stuff that we saw last year," White said. "So there is going to be frustration early, but it's necessary."
White said the next step will be for the calls to be consistent.
Caitlin Clark did take a couple trips to the locker room during the game. She said it was just to get her back adjusted.
"It gets out of line pretty quickly," Clark said. "So just getting my back put back in place a little bit. But other than that, feel great."
Red rally towels rested on all seats for the sold-out game. This season brings new hope of a championship to Fever fans. There were deafening cheers in the crowd as the starting lineup was announced. Kelsey Mitchell said that atmosphere keeps them in the game.
"Especially when it's bad," Mitchell said. "And so we piggyback off our fans in a lot of situations. Our environment is what makes me want to play hard."
Last year the Fever made a deep playoff run despite the number of injured players on the bench, including Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham and Sydney Colson. The team went to the semi-finals before losing to the Las Vegas Aces in a deciding Game 5.
With Clark and the team back and healthy this season, fans like Tanisha Southern are excited to see what the team brings.
"I absolutely have fallen in love with Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston," Southern said. "You know, Caitlin bought a lot of us in, but we staying for all the girls now. They got permanent fans."
The excitement brought Dominic Elie to his first WNBA game, with his girlfriend and her family. He said he came because he felt it was important to support women.
"The pay disparity has been something that's been big for a number of years, and all the new attention on Caitlin and just the women in general, not just one player, but it's been great seeing, you know, their hard work reap the benefits," Elie said.
The Fever's next game is Wednesday, May 13, on the road against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05
