The Caitlin Clark era in the WNBA has officially begun, although it got off to a slow start.
Clark went scoreless in the first quarter of the Indiana Fever’s game against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night. She missed her first four shots before finally getting on the board midway through the second period.
The NCAA’s all-time Division I scoring leader stole the ball around the foul line and drove the length of the court before laying the ball in. Clark had said before the game that she thought her first basket would come on a layup since it was a “high-percentage” shot.
She probably just didn’t think it would take nearly 15 minutes for it to happen.
Clark later added two free throws and hit a three-pointer with 29.9 seconds left in the first half to finish the opening 20 minutes with seven points, hitting two of her seven shot attempts.
The Fever went on to lose 92-71 to the Sun as Clark offset her team-high 20 points with 10 turnovers.
Before her first basket, Clark struggled and got into early foul trouble. Her first shot was a drive to the basket that bounced hard off the glass and into Aliyah Boston’s hands for a putback. Clark missed a runner in the lane, and then her 3 from the left wing just rimmed out. She did have an assist on one basket and threw a nifty behind-the-back pass to teammate Boston, but last season’s Rookie of the Year was called for a traveling violation.
Meanwhile, Clark was called for two fouls on the defensive end. The second one drew loud boos from the sellout crowd. The crowd gave the No 1 pick in the draft a loud ovation when she was announced in the pregame introduction.
Before the game, Clark admitted she was eager for her WNBA debut. It was one of four games on the league’s opening night to tip-off the WNBA’s 28th season. New York, which was runner-up in the WNBA Finals, visited Washington to start the evening.
She sat around most of the day at the hotel and had to wait to get on the court when her team arrived nearly 2:30 hours before tipoff.
“I just want to get out there and play,” she said. “I got plenty of time to sit and think about it. Still this is exciting. This is fun. … There’s just a different buzz in the air.”
Even before playing a WNBA game, Clark has left her mark in the pros. The league’s draft had record viewership, and her No 22 Indiana Fever jerseys have been flying off the shelves. There were hundreds of fans walking around the arena in Clark jerseys and t-shirts.
