CHICAGO (AP) — Kelsey Mitchell scored 27 points to set a WNBA single-season record with her 16th straight game of 20-plus points, Caitlin Clark had 26 points and 11 assists, and the Indiana Fever beat the Chicago Sky 90-86 on Saturday.
The Sky's DiJonai Carrington was ejected in the first quarter after being called for a Flagrant 2 foul on Sophie Cunningham. Minutes later, Carrington posted on social media the words “WHITE PRIVILEGE” and tagged the Fever.
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Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark, right, battles Chicago Sky's Gabriela Jaquez, left, for control of the ball during the second half of a WNBA basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Chicago Sky's DiJonai Carrington walks off the court ejected from the game for committing a flagrant foul against Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham during the first half of an WNBA basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Chicago Sky's DiJonai Carrington, back, stares down Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham (8) after committing a flagrant foul against Cunningham and before she was ejected from the game during the first half of an WNBA basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham (8) reacts while talking to the Chicago Sky bench after being fouled during the first half of an WNBA basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Mitchell made 11 of 22 shots with three 3-pointers for Indiana (20-12). Next up is the overall record, a 20-game run by the Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson spanning two seasons.
Clark finished with at least 25 points, 10 assists and five 3-pointers for the eighth time in her career. The feat has been accomplished just four other times in league history.
She will be able to play in Indiana's next game after the WNBA rescinded the technical foul she received during the game after making contact with a referee — though Clark said it was inadvertent and no words were exchanged. Had the technical stood, it would have been Clark's eighth of the season, triggering a one-game suspension.
Aliyah Boston added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Fever, and Makayla Timpson scored 10.
Natasha Cloud and reserve Rachel Banham both scored 17 for Chicago (12-2) and Kamilla Cardoso added 14 points and nine rebounds.
Mitchell scored eight straight points and Clark hit a 3-pointer in a 13-0 second-quarter run as the Fever turned a tie game into a 46-33 advantage before leading 53-42 at halftime.
Indiana took a 71-62 lead into the final quarter, but Jacy Sheldon sank a 3-pointer to get Chicago within 89-86 with 28 seconds left. Clark made the second of two free throws 10 seconds later for the final margin.
Fever: Host the New York Liberty on Tuesday.
Sky: Host the Seattle Storm on Saturday.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark, right, battles Chicago Sky's Gabriela Jaquez, left, for control of the ball during the second half of a WNBA basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Chicago Sky's DiJonai Carrington walks off the court ejected from the game for committing a flagrant foul against Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham during the first half of an WNBA basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Chicago Sky's DiJonai Carrington, back, stares down Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham (8) after committing a flagrant foul against Cunningham and before she was ejected from the game during the first half of an WNBA basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham (8) reacts while talking to the Chicago Sky bench after being fouled during the first half of an WNBA basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
SpaceX launched its enormous Starship into orbit for the first time Monday and successfully delivered the most advanced Starlinks yet, but decided to cut short the flight.
SpaceX said the spacecraft would reenter over the Pacific and splash down north of Hawaii three hours after blasting off from Texas. The company had been aiming for a 10-hour flight, spanning six full laps around Earth, to prove its readiness for NASA’s Artemis moon program.
The spacecraft almost didn't make it to orbit after one of its engines shut down too soon. But with everything else working well and the bad engine no longer needed, flight controllers decided after several tense minutes to proceed as planned.
“Starship is orbital,” Mission Control announced to cheers.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on reaching orbit and “managing every step in a safe, responsible and especially inspirational way.”
Founder Elon Musk’s showpiece rocket — the biggest and most powerful ever built — carried 26 of the latest and most advanced Starlink satellites to join the 11,000 older models already providing internet service. They popped out of the spacecraft one by one, drawing more cheers from the SpaceX crowds looking on from the launch site at Starbase, Texas.
The decision to end the flight early came soon afterward. No reason was provided.
It was Starship’s 14th full-scale launch from Texas’ southern tip in three years. The earlier test flights ventured no farther than the Indian Ocean halfway around the world, often crashing in flames and briefly skimming space.
This time, SpaceX was intent on circling the globe from an altitude of 170 miles (275 kilometers) — not just once but six times over almost 10 hours, ending with a Pacific splashdown near Chile. While Starship achieved the proper orbit zipping along at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph), flight controllers opted to play it safe and bring it back several hours sooner, after just a couple laps.
The first-stage booster was never meant to return to the Starbase launch site either, instead dropping into the Gulf of Mexico within minutes of the morning liftoff.
SpaceX wants to ensure that everything works before flying Starship back to Starbase. If the spacecraft breaks apart over land and rains debris onto people, “our popularity would diminish very rapidly,” Musk said at a business summit earlier this month. “That’s why we’re being extremely cautious here.”
Depending on the findings from Monday's orbital debut, the next Starship could return to the launch pad with giant mechanical arms grabbing the hovering spacecraft. If the catch works — Musk gives it even or slightly better odds — then SpaceX will refly the spacecraft by year’s end or early next year.
The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket was designed from the start to be fully reusable — a key to lowering launch costs. SpaceX managed to salvage the last Starship from the Indian Ocean in July. Engineers modified the newly launched Starship’s heat shield based on hands-on inspections from the recovered spacecraft, which is being tugged back to Starbase.
SpaceX is pressing hard to certify Starship for orbital flight, a vital step toward moon and Mars travel.
NASA’s Artemis III mission is coming up as soon as next summer, a triple-launch docking exercise in orbit around Earth between an Orion capsule full of astronauts and competing lunar landers. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Moon will blast off first, then Orion — which will close in for a linkup — then Musk’s Starship for a docking with Orion once Blue Moon is unleashed.
The next mission — Artemis IV slated for no sooner than 2028 — would have astronauts landing on the moon in either Blue Moon or Starship, whichever is ready first. Subsequent moonshots will alternate between the two billionaires’ landers.
Musk originally developed Starship for Mars, intending to launch scores of them with the red planet’s first settlers. For now, he plans to focus on the moon and use Starship to haul satellites into orbit by the truckload, phasing out the company’s frailer Falcon 9 rocket within several years. A second Starship launch site is nearing completion at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and a third is planned for Louisiana.
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SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A man watches at sunset as SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Seagulls fly near the site of SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
David Orr camps out near the site where SpaceX's mega rocket Starship, behind right, is preparing for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
David Orr rides his bike past SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
