Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark tossed the ball high into the air as time expired Saturday. Veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell started clapping. Finally, after four consecutive home losses, the Fever were celebrating.
In the latest matchup between college rivals Clark and Angel Reese, and on a day former South Carolina star Kamilla Cardoso made her regular-season pro debut in front of another sellout crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Clark finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a 71-70 victory over the Chicago Sky.
“It was great, and I think it came at a really great time,” Clark said after winning the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup game. “Our fans were awesome. They were energized. You know we really didn’t shoot the ball well at all collectively as a team and you know sometimes that’s hard for the fans, like that’s what they come to see. But I think they really appreciated our great defense tonight.”
This contest was about much more than scores or stats, though.
It featured three of the top seven picks from this year’s draft – three players in a generational rookie class who could all become the new faces of the WNBA – and a week in which Fever fans were treated to seeing each of the top four draft picks and five of the top seven.
This time, Clark got the upper hand on two of the women who prevented her from winning an NCAA championship even as she took a shoulder shot from the Sky’s Chennedy Carter before an inbound pass during the third quarter. The refs called it an away-from-the-ball foul.
Chennedy Carter scores and gives a shoulder to Caitlin Clarkpic.twitter.com/nQxkw1rvhH
— ✶ Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD3_) June 1, 2024
After the game, Carter said she wouldn’t take any questions about Clark. Reese, who appeared to applaud Carter’s foul on Clark, did not take questions from reporters following the game. On Sunday, the WNBA said Reese had been fined for “failing to make herself available to the media for interviews”.
Clark was asked about her view of the incident after the game.
“It is what it is,” she said. “I feel like I’m just at the point where you accept it and don’t retaliate. ... I’m trying not to let it bother me.”
In an X post after the game, Fever coach Christie Sides said Carter’s foul on Clark was “unacceptable”, adding: “When will the consistent complaints be heard?!? Something has to be done!”
Sides also mentioned in her postgame comments that the Fever intends to raise Clark’s treatment with the WNBA.
“We’re just going to keep sending these possessions to the league, and these plays, and hopefully they’ll start, you know, taking a better look at some of the things that we see happening, or we think is happening,” Sides said. “Just more happy that Caitlin handled it the way she did. You know, it’s tough to keep getting hammered the way she does and to not get rewarded with free throws or foul calls. She’s continued to fight through that. Appreciate that from her. Really, really proud of her for doing that.”
Before the game, Sides attempted to play up the rivalry between the two Midwestern teams, but the loud pregame ovation for Clark and a smattering of boos that were quickly drowned out by cheers for Reese during pregame introductions typified the showdown.
Reese finished with eight points and 13 rebounds in her latest round against Clark while Cardoso played for the first time since injuring her right shoulder in a preseason game. Cardoso had 11 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes but was called for a foul that led to Aliyah Boston’s three-point play with 1:19 left, which proved the difference.
“I thought earlier this season if we would have shot like this, we wouldn’t have won the game because we didn’t have that resiliency and we would have let it affect our defensive play,” Clark said. “So just proud of us, I thought we were really gritty.”
