Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell post big games to help Fever even series with 99-89 win over Aces

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark finished with 27 points and 15 assists while reaching another milestone Tuesday night, and Kelsey Mitchell added 26 points to keep the sixth-seeded Indiana Fever's postseason alive with a 99-89 victory over the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

Clark helped Indiana even the best-of-three series at 1-1 as she became the first player in league history to produce a points-assists double-double in the first half of a playoff game. She had 14 points and 11 assists in the first 20 minutes.

Game 3 will be played Thursday at Las Vegas.

The game was marred by an incident between A'ja Wilson and a fan who appeared to say something to Wilson after Sophie Cunningham was called for a foul. Wilson walked toward the fan, pointed at him and appeared to say something as two teammates, an assistant coach and security tried to separate everyone. Wilson was assessed a technical foul but was not ejected. The man was escorted out by security with Indiana leading 90-79 with 4:10 to play.

Las Vegas rallied to within 92-87, but even after Clark fouled out the Fever managed to hang on.

It wasn't just Clark's scoring that impacted this game. She put on a dribbling clinic, made nifty pass after nifty pass, became a harassing presence on defense and repeatedly encouraged the crowd to get louder.

It was a complete turnabout from Game 1 when Wilson dominated the middle and Las Vegas controlled the game. This time, Jackie Young scored 31 points while Wilson had 22 points and nine rebounds and passed Rebekkah Brunson for fourth on the league's career playoff list.

The Aces looked poised for a second straight blowout when they closed the first quarter on a 9-2 spurt and started the second with a 3 to take a 29-18 lead.

But Clark had something else in mind — like tying up Wilson for a jump ball, then grabbing the ball and walking into the baseline corner and pumping her arm toward the crowd. It was that kind of emotion that allowed Clark to start creating fast-break opportunities by winning the race to loose balls.

The resulting confusion and turnovers spurred a 20-6 second-quarter run that ended with Raven Johnson's short jumper that gave Indiana a 46-39 lead. Indiana still led 48-43 at halftime and extended the margin to 69-54 late in the third quarter.

But with Clark on the bench with four fouls, Vegas answered. They opened the fourth quarter on a 11-4 run that cut the deficit to 76-71.

A rematch between these teams in Las Vegas on Thursday night with the winner advancing to the league's semifinal round.

See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) and forward Myisha Hines-Allen (2) tie up Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson, center, during the first half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff series in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Fever guard Raven Johnson, left, and Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson vie for a loose ball during the first half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff series in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Fever guard Raven Johnson, left, and Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson, center, go for a loose ball during the first half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff series in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray (12) celebrates a three-point basket against the Indiana Fever during the first half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff series in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) drives on Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) during the first half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff series in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday rejected South Korean findings that North Korea likely planted the land mines that injured three South Korean soldiers last week. She threatened to retaliate if the South fires at North Korean troops conducting border fortification work.

Three South Korean military officers were injured in two consecutive explosions Sept. 21 near the military demarcation line in the western section of the Demilitarized Zone, a heavily fortified border buffer zone between the Koreas.

The statement by Kim Yo Jong came after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Monday announced a preliminary assessment that the blasts were caused by North Korean mines following a joint inspection of the site with the U.S.-led United Nations Command.

The South Korean joint chiefs said South Korean and U.N. investigators discovered another North Korean mine Tuesday during a follow-up inspection, and the U.N. Command said Wednesday it had determined that North Korea violated the armistice agreement that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. The command said it was addressing the violation through established mechanisms but didn't elaborate.

South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul told lawmakers Tuesday the South would consider unspecified “corresponding measures” if a complete investigation confirms the North was responsible for the blasts.

Kim Yo Jong, a top foreign policy official for her brother and possibly the second-most powerful figure in Pyongyang, called the South Korean assessment a “conspiratorial farce” and accused Seoul of making groundless claims to create a pretext for military provocation against the North.

North Korea in recent years has added mines, anti-tank barriers and other front-line fortifications as relations between the Koreas have sharply deteriorated, raising concerns in the South about the growing presence of North Korean soldiers near the border zone, commonly known as the DMZ.

Kim described North Korea’s efforts as a rightful exercise of its sovereignty to strengthen the border and accused the South of escalating tensions by broadcasting warnings and firing warning shots at North Korean troops involved in front-line fortification work, insisting that “our soldiers have never crossed the border.”

“When a single bullet is hit on our land, they must be prepared for a lot,” she said. “If the (South Korean) military gangsters fire at our soldiers carrying on the permanent project for the southern border, not warning shots, our border units will take immediate and merciless retaliatory action."

The recent explosions, which took place about 10 meters (yards) south of the military demarcation line, came during an operation to establish a patrol route through a densely vegetated area rarely visited for decades. The route was intended to allow future inspections with the U.N. Command after South Korea since last year detected “terrain changes” that may have resulted from North Korean minelaying.

Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was a “very high possibility” that North Korean mines caused last week’s explosions, noting that there was no record of South Korean or allied forces laying mines in the area. Blast marks, forensic analysis of explosive substances and what appeared to be a third North Korean mine at the scene also pointed to the North, he said. Kang said South Korean and U.N. investigators found a possible fourth mine during a follow-up inspection Tuesday.

The DMZ, which is 248 kilometers (155 miles) long and 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) wide, is one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders. An estimated 2 million mines are buried in and around the zone, which is also guarded by barbed-wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides. The zone is a legacy of the Korean War, which ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

The latest explosions came more than a decade after South Korea blamed the North for land mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers and sharply raised tensions between the countries in August 2015.

The Koreas then traded threats, staged weapons demonstrations and resumed border propaganda broadcasts, before days of marathon talks eventually pulled them back from the brink. North Korea issued a vague expression of regret over the soldiers’ injuries but never clearly accepted responsibility.

Last week’s explosions came as South Korea’s liberal government sought to help revive diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington as part of broader efforts to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Since early 2024, North Korea has taken an increasingly hard-line stance toward South Korea, declaring its neighbor a permanent enemy and abandoning the concept of shared statehood in favor of a hostile “two-state” system. The North has so far rejected U.S. calls to revive diplomacy between the countries that collapsed in 2019, insisting that Washington must first drop its demand for the North’s denuclearization as a precondition for talks.

Visitors watch the North Korea side from the Unification Observation Post near the border with North Korea, in Paju, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A North Korean military guard post, top, and a South Korean post, bottom, are seen near the border with North Korea, in Paju, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence near the border with North Korea, in Paju, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)