Kelsey Mitchell scored a game-high 33 points Saturday night and the Indiana Fever pulled away from the visiting New York Liberty in the second half to earn a 108-88 win.

Mitchell rattled off 14 in the final 5:16 of the third quarter, outscoring New York by herself in the game-changing period. Indiana (16-10) blitzed the Liberty (13-12) 30-12 in the quarter, turning a four-point deficit at halftime into an insurmountable 75-61 lead.

Caitlin Clark, who became the first player in WNBA history to score 45 points and dish out 10 assists in a game on Friday night, contributed 17 points and seven assists after a slow start. Aliyah Boston added 15 points and seven rebounds as the Fever owned the boards 47-39.

Breanna Stewart scored 26 points and grabbed eight boards for New York but also had four of its 15 turnovers. Jonquel Jones netted 13 points — along with five turnovers — while Marine Johannes and Sabrina Ionescu each added 12.

The Liberty came into this one off an unscheduled five-day break after a Sunday loss to Toronto in Montreal. Their game at Dallas scheduled for Thursday night was postponed until Monday due to problems with their charter flight on Wednesday.

New York came into the game with a three-game losing streak but looked like the championship team it’s been in the past. It established a 15-4 lead less than three minutes into the game, making four straight 3-pointers, and took a 28-22 advantage to the second period.

Clark contributed to the early run in the wrong way, picking up her sixth technical foul of the year 90 seconds into the game to earn an automatic $1,000 fine from the league. Two more techs will result in a one-game suspension.

The Liberty pushed their lead to 42-29 at the 2:55 mark of the second quarter when Ionescu sank a foul shot. At that point, Indiana found its footing, getting a six-point play in the middle of a 16-7 push to end the half. That drew it within 49-45 at the break.

–Field Level Media

Finishing third in the World Cup isn’t the prize a country spends four years trying to achieve.

And it might be more painful for England — and definitely their fans — after the squad blew a late lead in the semifinals against Argentina.

Still, the third-place match was scheduled to be played, and Bukayo Saka recorded a hat trick and Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and Jude Bellingham also scored goals as England produced a wild and crazy 6-4 victory over France on Saturday at Miami Gardens, Fla.

“Across the tournament, we had some amazing results and in the end we fell short against Argentina and it hurts a lot to all of us and I’m sure it’s the same for the fans at home,” Saka said after recording the fourth hat trick in England’s World Cup history. “But we have to hold our heads high.”

France star Kylian Mbappe scored twice to raise his total to 10 goals in this World Cup and 22 in just 22 matches in his World Cup career. The former gives him a two-goal lead in the Golden Boot competition and the latter surpasses the career mark held by Argentina’s Lionel Messi (21).

Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele also scored goals for Les Bleus. Michael Olise had two assists to raise his total at a single World Cup to seven, breaking the record of legendary Pele (six in 1970) of Brazil.

Both teams fell into the third-place match after semifinal losses earlier in the week. In addition to England’s painful 2-1 loss to Argentina, France was roundly outplayed in a 2-0 loss to Spain.

“To be honest, I would have preferred to not be top scorer and be in the World Cup final tomorrow,” Mbappe said, in reference to Sunday’s Argentina-Spain matchup. “Leo scores all the time. Tomorrow he will score for sure.”

It looked like another long day for France after they dug a 4-0 halftime deficit before the match switched from one-sided to pinball-like excitement.

Mbappe steered France’s comeback bid by putting France on the board in the 48th minute when he received a pass from Olise and sent a left-footed shot past England goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Six minutes later, the French added another as Barcola drilled a right-footed shot past Henderson.

Mbappe was back at in the 66th minute when he sent a left-footed shot into the right corner of the net. That tally made him the first player to score 10 goals in a single World Cup since West Germany’s Gerd Muller in 1970.

Later, Malo Gusto was called for a foul in the box with a takedown of England’s Djed Spence in the 85th minute.

Bellingham lined up to take the penalty kick but then ceded to Saka, who stood at the spot in the 87th minute and sent a left-footed grounder into the right corner to complete the hat trick and give England a 5-3 lead.

The goal proved crucial as Dembele knocked a left-footed shot into the left corner of the goal in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time to make it a one-goal match.

But Bellingham put a lid on the match with a stellar drive down field, and he navigated toward the goal and booted in a right-footed shot in the eighth minute of stoppage time. It was Bellingham’s seventh goal of the World Cup.

“Great first half, turbulent second half,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said. “Massive respect for the mentality we showed, brilliant. …

“This team created something special. We got lucky to not concede the equalizer and finish it off with the two goals — the penalty and a brilliant goal.”

England’s first-half barrage began with Rice’s goal two minutes, 14 seconds into the match, the second-fastest tally in the country’s World Cup history.

Rice intercepted a soft pass by France’s Desire Doue in the midfield and dribbled in and booted a hard right-footed shot past goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

Rice took a corner kick in the 18th minute and delivered a boot that Konsa headed inside the far post for a 2-0 lead.

The Three Lions scored again on Saka’s goal in the 37th minute. Maignan stopped the initial shot by Marcus Rashford but was well out of the net. Saka took a rebound shot that hit off a defender. Rashford then had the ball and slid it over to Saka, who sent a left-footed shot off a different defender close to the net and it caromed into the goal.

Saka scored again in the first minute of first-half stoppage time by sending a left-footed shot into the right corner of the net.

The match was the final one as Les Bleus coach for 57-year-old Didier Deschamps, whose 14-year tenure includes guiding the nation to the 2018 World Cup crown.

Deschamps liked what he saw in the second half after what he termed a “disgraceful first half.”

“It’s my fault. I must not have done what was needed in the first half,” Deschamps said. “At least we showed something, even if the defeat hurts. Obviously, it would have been better to finish third.”

Henderson made five saves for England and Maignan had four stops for France.

English star striker Harry Kane (six goals in this World Cup) didn’t play in the third-place match.

–Field Level Media

The Chicago Cubs acquired veteran right-hander Aaron Civale from the Athletics on Saturday for minor league right-hander Aiden Moffett.

Civale, who ended last season with the Cubs, was designated for assignment by the Athletics on Wednesday.

In other moves on Saturday, the Athletics placed right-hander Justin Sterner on the 15-day injured list with right knee chondromalacia, selected the contract of righty Geoff Hartlieb from Triple-A Las Vegas and designated first baseman/outfielder Joey Meneses for assignment.

Civale, 31, signed as a free agent with the Athletics in February on a one-year, $6 million contract. His season started well with a 5-1 record and 2.70 ERA over his first nine starts. But he had an 8.25 ERA in three June starts and a 10.29 ERA through two July starts and has lost his last six starts.

He went 5-7 with a 5.42 ERA in 74 2/3 innings over 16 games (15 starts) for the Athletics. He missed about three weeks due to right shoulder tendinitis.

“Civale had a great April for us,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “But he wasn’t able to turn things around.”

Civale has a 48-51 record and 4.26 ERA with 723 strikeouts and 226 walks over 156 appearances (150 starts) for the Cleveland Guardians (2019-23), Tampa Bay Rays (2023-24), Milwaukee Brewers (2024-25), Chicago White Sox (2025), Chicago Cubs (2025) and Athletics. He was 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA over 13 innings in five relief appearances with the Cubs after playing in his first 135 major league games as a starter.

Moffett, 22, is a combined 1-2 with a 10.07 ERA, 42 walks and 25 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings over 17 relief appearances split between the Cubs’ Class-A Myrtle Beach affiliate and Rookie League teams.

Sterner, 29, is 2-4 with one save, a 6.12 ERA, 13 walks and 40 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings over 46 relief appearances this season.

Hartlieb, 32, is 1-1 with a 5.19 ERA, three walks and three strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings over four relief appearances this season with the Athletics.

He is a career 2-2 with a 7.69 ERA, 64 walks and 84 strikeouts in 91 1/3 innings over 72 relief appearances with seven different teams since 2019.

Meneses, 34, was 3-for-20 (.150) with two RBIs in nine games for the Athletics this season. He spent parts of three seasons from 2022-24 with the Washington Nationals and batted .274 with 29 home runs and 165 RBIs in 286 games.

–Field Level Media