Thousands of fans in a record crowd got what they wanted Sunday afternoon.

They were the ones not rooting for the Lynx.

Caitlin Clark scored 10 of her 17 points in the final quarter, Kelsey Mitchell had nine of her 21 in the frame, and the Indiana Fever were clutch late to beat Minnesota 81-74 in front of 18,978 people, the largest regular-season crowd in Lynx history.

“Defensively, we played again mostly well enough to win,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Our offense has put so much pressure on our defense. You make one mistake and they score and it just hurts you so bad because we’re not coming back at people and really challenging.”

Averaging 81.3 points per game entering Sunday, Minnesota has failed to top 74 in six of its past seven starts.

Up by seven after three quarters, Minnesota was outscored 28-14 in the final 10 minutes — four 3-pointers and two free throws — to fall for the fourth time in six games.

“We were kind of stagnant, we weren’t getting to the paint and finding our shooters and kind of making things a little bit more difficult. … We had our play calls in, but once they guarded that it was kind of like, ‘What’s next?’” said Bridget Carleton, who finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Minnesota (16-8) played its fourth straight without Olympian Napheesa Collier, out with plantar fasciitis in her left foot. The Lynx have a Wednesday afternoon game left before the nearly month-long Olympic break.

“We need Phee back to get more pressure in the paint, little more pressure at the rim,” Reeve said.

Minnesota has been outscored 47-21 in the past two fourth quarters, although backups took part in most of Friday’s seven-point period in a 91-63 loss at Seattle.

“We just have work on playing the whole 40 minutes. It might not look great, but we need to be able to grind it out until the end,” said Alanna Smith, who battled through foul trouble to garner team highs in points (18), rebounds (8) and steals (4).

A 3-pointer by Cecilia Zandalasini ended a 15-5 Fever run and tied the game at 71 with 4:22 to play.

Clark found Aliyah Boston for a cutting layup with 2:54 to play and Katie Lou Samuelson fed Boston for another layup less than a minute later. Boston scored 17 points and added a career-high 16 rebounds for the 11-14 Fever.

A trey from Kayla McBride got Minnesota within 75-74 with 1:55 left, but she missed a couple of threes and Smith missed a late layup. Clark made all four free throws and Mitchell two to ice the win.

Clark had six turnovers to set a WNBA record with 139 turnovers in a season, but her six assists give her 194, second-most by a rookie in league history. Ticha Penicheiro had 225 in 1998.

Caitlin packs the house

Everywhere a person looked in Target Center was someone wearing No. 22 Fever apparel or the same number in the University of Iowa’s black and gold. Clark led the Hawkeyes to the Big Ten crown in the building the past two seasons.

“It’s not something that gets old for me seeing these young kids. It’s like how are there this many young girls who really like me in the world? I’m like, ‘Wow, there’s just so many of them,’” she said. “These are people that spend a lot of time and money and effort to make special, whether it’s their kids, friends or whoever they’re coming to the game … to cherish forever. For me to be a small part of that and do what I love, that’s all I have to do to maybe change their life or give them a memory that will inspire them for the rest of theirs is pretty easy for me. I feel very fortunate.”

Growing up in West Des Moines, Iowa, Clark attended her first Lynx game in fifth grade and sat courtside as Minnesota players worked out.

“Lindsay Whalen came over, Seimone Augustus came over,” Clark said. “I remember meeting them very vividly. Obviously, a very special memory in my entire basketball career.”

But it was Maya Moore who was Clark’s favorite player.

Coincidentally, when the Lynx plan to retire the No. 23 of Moore on Aug. 24, the Fever are that night’s opponent.

“If you would have told me as a young kid that I’d be playing in the game that her jersey gets retired, it’s kind of full circle for me too,” Clark said. “She’s like my LeBron James as a kid.”