The Indiana Fever thought Caitlin Clark’s return might solve their wild first-half ride. They were getting healthy, beating good teams and starting to meet expectations.

Then the two-time All-Star got hurt again in the final minute of last Tuesday’s game at Connecticut. Indiana lost by double digits the next night to defending champion New York.

Clark missed last weekend’s All-Star festivities in Indianapolis and is likely to sit out Tuesday night when the Fever again play the Liberty. It’s all creating uncertainty about Clark and Indiana’s championship aspirations.

“These soft tissue injuries sometimes nag until you can actually have time to really allow them to heal in the offseason,” Indiana coach Stephanie White said after Sunday’s practice. “So we’ll just take it one day at a time and we’ll continue, as a group, to progress together.”

Neither White nor Clark have provided a timetable for Clark’s return.

As a rookie, Clark helped the Fever snap a six-year playoff drought, and she had 40 points, 29 assists, six steals and 10 turnovers in 79 minutes during the three-game winning streak before her latest injury.

Her name and that of the league’s other superstars have packed arenas and been the focal point of broadcast deals.

Amid a rash of injuries, the WNBA needs its top players on the court more than ever. According to The Next, which tracks injuries in the league, there have been more than 140 injuries so far this season.

Those numbers fed into last weekend’s debate over whether league officials should consider extending the season next year now that teams are playing 44 games instead of 40.

“I feel there [HAS] been quite a few injuries over the course of the beginning of this season for quite a few people,” Clark said Saturday, noting some injuries created minutes restrictions for other All-Star selections. “A lot of people have been in the same boat as myself.”

[MORE: WNBA All-Stars Wear ‘Pay Us’ T-Shirts Amid Ongoing CBA Deal Negotiations]

Simply extending the season creates yet another problem — competing against the NFL and college football telecasts deeper into September. That’s something that could be resolved in a new collective bargaining agreement.

Until then, though, Indiana must learn to deal with Clark’s third absence this season, so far resulting in 10 missed games. Clark did not miss a single game in college or her rookie season with the Fever.

Indiana has maintained a winning record (12-11) and playoff positioning despite the injuries. The Fever were also able to win the Commissioner’s Cup over Minnesota with a 74-59 win without Clark.

The team also overcame the departure of DeWanna Bonner, who lost her starting job after three games and played in only nine before being waived and returning to Phoenix.

And, of course, it took time for everyone to get on the same page following a massive offseason overhaul that included the hiring of a new general manager, Amber Cox; the return of White — Indiana’s original No. 22; and the addition of other players with title-winning experience.

“I think it’s been a rollercoaster ride with peaks and valleys, injuries, switching lineups,” three-time All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell said. “I think that’s part of being a professional athlete, but I think you need to go through things like this to be one of the teams they talk about at the end of the season.”

The Fever believe they can still be one of those teams.

With Mitchell leading Indiana in scoring at 19.1 points per game and All-Star center Aliyah Boston showcasing a niftier passing game to go along with averages of 15.8 points and 7.6 rebounds, Indiana still has two of its foundational pillars on the court.

Indiana also has more options, such as forward Natasha Howard and backup guard Sophie Cunningham to help fill in the gaps until Clark returns.

“Consistency, attention to detail, making sure defensively we’re a beast unit,” Cunningham said as she identified other needed fixes. “I think it all starts on the defensive end with our intensity and our aggressiveness. When we do that, we tend to win those ballgames. You’re going to have a little bit of slippage every now and then, but you can’t have landslides.”

Ultimately, though, the lingering question is whether Clark can stay healthy long enough to push Indiana into championship position.

“Working your way back into it is really difficult,” White said. “She has to give herself some grace. She’s coming back from an injury.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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The State College Borough Council passed a resolution Monday approving a pilot parking program to allow for the adoption of a two-hour time limit for parking meters.

The program, which is set to last through Jan. 31, 2026, follows the introduction of a temporary regulation by director of parking Tom Brown on July 14, 2025. It will result in an amendment to the borough’s codification regarding parking.

Borough council president Evan Myers expressed his approval of the pilot program as a foundation to develop a long-term solution.

“We need to try different things… and I think we should approach it in that way, that this may work or it may not work, but there’s all kinds of different ways of doing things,” Myers said. “There are a lot of ideas that were fancied about… so I think that if we approach it, that this is [a] first step and we’re going to continue to think about other ways of doing things, then I’m all in favor of trying that design.

Council member Nalini Krishnankutty agreed with Myers’s comments and asked how the program would be advertised to the borough. Brown said that the program would be added to both the Parking homepage and social media channels.

The council voted to unanimously pass the resolution.

MORE BOROUGH COVERAGE

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has announced the 2025-26 Mountaineer golf schedule.
 
“We are excited about our schedule as it will allow us to compete against some of the best teams and players in college golf,” coach Sean Covich said. “We have five different tournaments from last year’s schedule which will see us travel to various climates including the upper Midwest, the Gulf South and even Hawaii. This will allow our guys to play on all types of grasses and continue to develop their game for postseason.”
 
The Mountaineers will open the fall season for the first time at the Island Resort Collegiate at Sage Run Golf Course in Bark River, Michigan, on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.
 
A week later on Sept. 7-8, West Virginia will play in The Gopher Invitational for the sixth time in school history at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, Minnesota.
 
For the second year in a row, West Virginia will host the Nemacolin Collegiate Invitational at Mystic Rock Golf Course in Farmington, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 29-30. The Mountaineers won the team title, and Kaleb Wilson won the individual title in the inaugural event.
 
Another first time tournament for the Mountaineers will take place in Lexington, Kentucky, on Oct. 6-7 at the Cullen Brown Invitational at Lexington Country Club.
 
West Virginia will return to the Steelwood Collegiate for the second time in three years on Oct. 25-26 at Steelwood Country Club in Loxley, Alabama.
 
The Mountaineers will close out the fall season in Hawaii on Nov. 5-6, playing in the Kapolei Invitational at Kapolei Golf Club in Kapolei, Hawaii. This is another first time event for the Mountaineers.
 
For the second year in a row, West Virginia will open the spring season at the Battle at Briar’s Creek at The Golf Club at Briar’s Creek in John’s Island, South Carolina, on Feb. 2-3.
 
WVU will compete at the Gators Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, played at Mark Bostick Golf Course on Feb. 14-15. It will mark the eighth consecutive appearance for WVU in the Gators Invitational.
 
The Mountaineers will play three tournaments in March – The Johnnie-O at Sea Island at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia, on March 9-10, The Schenkel Invitational at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Georgia, from March 13-15 and The Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, South Carolina, from March 22-24.
 
The final regular season competition will take place on April 13-14 with the annual Mountaineer Invitational at Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport, West Virginia. WVU has won its own event four times along with having four individual champions.
 
“Ending our regular season at Pete Dye Golf Club hosting the Mountaineer Invitational is always a treat, especially considering NCAA champion Oklahoma State will return to try and defend their title,” Covich said. “We are very proud of how that tournament has grown into a national event.”
 
The Big 12 Men’s Golf Championship will take place on April 27-29 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas, marking WVU’s fourth appearance there in league championship play.
 
The 2026 NCAA Regionals will be hosted at various sites from May 18-20 with teams advancing to the 2026 NCAA Championship at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, from May 28-June 2.
 
 

The Providence Journal is proud to announce the 2025 Independent Schools All-State team. The Journal sports staff, with help from the coaches associations, determines the members. All members were nominees for Player of the Year, and the winner was announced at the All-State Awards show, held June 18, at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita Thunder, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks and American Hockey League’s San Jose Barracuda, announced the re-signing of defenseman T.J. Lloyd for the 2025-26 season. 

Lloyd, 25, returns to Wichita for his second full season as a pro. He signed with the Savannah Ghost Pirates after completing his senior year of college in 2023-24 and appeared in four games.

The Lloydminster, Saskatchewan native registered 25 points (9g-16a) in 66 games with Wichita in 2024-25.

Prior to turning pro, Lloyd started his college hockey career at Bowling Green State University. Lloyd dressed in 104 games for the Falcons, tallying 38 points (4g-34a). In 2022-23, he transferred to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Lloyd played two years for the Nanooks, collecting 35 points (6g-29a) in 68 games. He was named as an alternate captain in 2023-24 and was a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award as well.