INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Fever are ten days away from being back in Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the second half of the WNBA season. For guard Caitlin Clark, it couldn’t come soon enough.

“I feel like I’m ready to get back out there and get playing, but that’s probably because that’s really all I’ve known over the course of the last year,” Clark said.

After going straight from the college court to the W, Clark played nine straight months of basketball — until last month’s Olympic Break. Her favorite part of the time off — ironically, more basketball.

“Just getting some time to relax and reset, and then honestly just getting in here and getting to work on some stuff we haven’t probably gotten to work on all year long,” Clark said. “I think it’s been good. You don’t have to mentally prepare for the games. You know that takes a lot of preparation. It’s mentally taxing at the same time. Just getting that reset has been really good for us.”

It’s given Clark time to explore her new city.

“I love it,” Clark said with a big smile. “I’m trying to find new restaurants to try. Try as much as I kind, try to find my favorites. Been able to do that a little bit more since I’ve had a little bit of the break. But yeah, it’s just a good place.”

The break’s now essentially over. The Fever start of the second half of the season against the Phoenix Mercury Aug. 16 at the Fieldhouse.

The Fever returned to practice last week. The main focus before the restart — defense.

“Getting stops, transition defense especially,” head coach Christie Sides said. “Just our turnovers are causing some of those transition baskets, so if we can clean that up, that transition will help take care of that, as well.”

“Everybody’s going to be competing really hard coming back from the break, obviously with playoffs on the line,” Clark said. “One or two games can really decide the difference between that 8 and 9 spot. Obviously we’re in seventh place right now but that can change from game to game as we know. So I think it’s the little details, the little margins that’s important to us.”

Little margins that could mean a big playoff spot for the Fever — which hasn’t happened since 2016.