The Indiana Fever’s performance in a 92-75 victory over Seattle resembled that of a diesel engine in the dead of winter.

It takes a while to get warmed up, but once it does it can perform the most difficult of tasks. The task at hand for the diesel engine powering the Fever on Sunday was defeating the Storm who entered the contest 17-9 and were among the top five teams in the WNBA.

Despite a slow start, Indiana’s oil flowing through their engine soon warmed to the prime operating temperature.

“Staying confident and staying aggressive,” Clark said of the game. “They played good defense tonight. It was tough in transition. Our defense is a lot better, and our shooting has gotten better too, especially in the second half.”

As mentioned, Indiana struggled to get warmed up in the early going. The Fever started the game 0-for-6 shooting from behind the arc and were outscored by Seattle 17-13 in the first quarter. The lead would grow to 23-16 by the 6:15 mark of the second quarter, the largest it would ever get for the Storm.

Caitlin Clark blanked her first five shots from deep but made up for it in other ways by attacking the basket and even hitting some mid-range jumpers. She also tied the single-season WNBA rookie record for assists (225).

It was Lexie Hull who was the star of the show for the Fever throughout the game as she came off the bench and was 2-of-3 from three and 4-of-6 overall scoring 10 points in the first half.

With Indiana only up 35-34 at the half, they would need all the help she could provide to put the Fever over Seattle

A shaky start to the third quarter allowed Seattle to keep it close. Jewell Loyd, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Nneka Ogwumike kept it tough as both teams tied the third quarter at 24 points apiece.

Up only one, 59-58, entering the final period, Indiana needed a boost to pull away. They went right back to Hull for the answer. As Clark ended the game with nine assists, one shy of a double-double with 23 points, many of those dimes went to Hull in the fourth quarter as she hit two more three-pointers back-to-back by the 7:58 mark of the fourth quarter.

Her second of that pair sent shockwaves through a sold-out Gainbridge Fieldhouse that could be felt all the way from Greenfield to Danville.

“I got to my spots and (Clark) can find me pretty much anywhere,” Hull said. “We knew their defense would be tough so we had to take advantage however we could.”

Hull’s stat line: a career-high 22 points off 6-of-7 shooting from behind the arc (8-of-10) overall.

“Trusting myself, trusting the process,” Hull added. “Getting extra shots every day. It’s tough to not make some of those open shots, but just keep shooting.”

Hull’s shots came at the perfect times to keep the momentum with Indiana, but much credit should be given to Kelsey Mitchell as well, who scored 27 points in key moments to move the game along for the Fever.

She also caught Clark’s rookie record-breaking assist (226) in transition early in the third quarter going from one free throw line to the other. The Fever outscored Seattle 33-to-17 in the final period putting the game on ice and sealing their second win in a row out of the Olympic break.

“We honestly put together four pretty good quarters,” Clark said. “The first and the second were a little sluggish, but we just kept chipping away. We took care of the ball better in this game as well.”

It’s hard to put into words how important Sunday’s win was for Indiana as they are now 13-15 on the season, and as of this story’s filing puts them a full game up on Chicago as they remain seventh in the league standings, just on the inside of the eight available playoff spots with just 12 games left in the regular season.

Atlanta’s victory over Connecticut was not helpful for Indiana on Sunday, but they maintained their distance on the Dream.

Still, with hardly any room for error going forward, the Fever will take the next five days off to prepare for a road match-up with the Minnesota Lynx this coming Saturday (8/24).