Breanna Stewart, Liberty overwhelm Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever

The Caitlin Clark Show was supposed to come to Barclays Center Wednesday night. But the show had to go on without the face of women’s basketball as it had so many times this season.

The Liberty were facing the Fever in the first of two meetings here in seven days, sandwiching the All-Star break. But Clark hurt her right groin in the final minute of Indiana’s win over Connecticut Tuesday night, her fourth game back following her left groin injury.

So she missed her 11th game overall, including the Commissioner’s Cup final, watching in a black hoodie and sweatpants from the bench in Brooklyn with her third injury of this regular season — the two groins and a quad.

The Liberty served as the primary source of entertainment for the full house of 17,321. They have had their own 6-6-sized injury issue. Jonquel Jones missed her ninth straight game with a sprained right ankle.

But the Liberty handled her absence a whole lot better than Indiana did when it came to Clark’s absence on the back end of its back-to-back set. They got 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and four blocks from Breanna Stewart and 15 points and nine assists from Sabrina Ionescu, their two All-Stars, and the Liberty won easily, 98-77.

So after dropping six of nine, they go into the break with three straight wins and a 15-6 bottom line.

“There was just an understanding of we’ve got to find a way and stay together, and we have all we need in the locker room,” Ionescu said. “I think we were losing some of those games ourselves.”

The Fever, who were paced by Kelsey Mitchell’s 16 points, had been on a three-game winning streak. They are 12-11 — 8-5 with Clark and 4-6 without her, 5-6 when counting the victory that gave them the Commissioner’s Cup.

Clark underwent imaging, and coach Stephanie White said that “anything we’re talking about still day-to-day is always good news for me.

“I think the biggest thing is trying to keep her in good spirits,” White said. “She’s had a lot of setbacks with all these little injuries . . . It’s frustrating for her I’m sure especially.”

The point guard is scheduled to be at the All-Star festivities in Indianapolis, shooting threes in that contest Friday night and playing in the game Saturday night.

“Caitlin and her team will make a decision when it comes to All-Star,” White said.

The Liberty, meanwhile, went 5-4 in this stretch without Jones. Fill-ins like Nyara Sabally and Isabelle Harrison did their part.

“But no one compares to Jonquel Jones,” coach Sandy Brondello said. “I mean, she’ll go down as one of the greatest of all times.”

The Liberty had a great start, shooting 9-for-11 to go up 23-16. When Ionescu made a layup, they had a 32-24 lead to carry into the second quarter.

Marine Johannes, who drilled four threes for her 12 points, sank one and Stewart delivered a three-point play in an 8-0 burst, good for a 49-32 advantage.

It was 53-38 at the intermission.

Another Johannes three swelled the margin to 26 in the third. The Fever countered with a 13-2 run, trimming it to 76-61 early in the fourth.

But Natasha Cloud responded with a three to cap her 14-point night. Sabally followed with a jumper. And Stewart, clearly not distracted by her upcoming All-Star trip, converted a layup, bringing the lead to 22.

“I wanted to kind of set the tone and really focus in on here,” Stewart said. “But also give credit to the fans. The energy from warm-ups till the end of the game was incredible.”