Smothering the Connecticut defense Caitlin Clark, a rookie with the Indiana Fever, was set to make her much anticipated professional debut, but Sun derailed everything.
The two-time national college player of the year, Clark, experienced a challenging debut in her first WNBA regular-season game. Despite Connecticut’s comfortable 92-71 win, Clark struggled to earn each of her 20 points.
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“It’s the first one, so we have a lot to learn,” Clark said to reporters after the match. “There will be good ones, and there will be bad ones.”
At the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, fans showed divided loyalties as they supported both the local team and Clark during her highly anticipated professional debut in women’s basketball. It marked the first sellout for the Suns’ home opener since 2003.
Highlights were few and far between, but the building erupted when Clark sank all four of her 3-pointers. Connecticut limited her to only three assists and pushed her towards a game-high ten turnovers—among the twenty-five Fever mistakes.
“Clearly, the excessive number of turnovers won’t lead to success,” Clark declared. “There are many lessons to be gleaned from this.” It would have been nice to have performed a bit better tonight, she continued.
In the opening quarter, she incurred two touch fouls, necessitating an early break on the bench. Moreover, Connecticut’s DiJonai Carrington and her teammates constricted the space available to Clark, the top pick of the 2024 draft, restricting her movement on the court.
Clark’s initial points were scored with 5:24 left in the second quarter. Following the interval, she added 13 points, gaining a stronger offensive presence.
Despite this, there were still too many turnovers—five in each half. Clark admitted that it took him some time to get comfortable with the game. “I thought, minus a few turnovers, the second half was much better.”
Christie Sides, the coach of the Fever, stated Clark wasn’t at fault for any of the team’s ten errors. “We must provide for her. Sides remarked, “We need to do better at returning to the ball.
Despite the global attention focused on Mohegan Sun Arena, Carrington maintained that Tuesday’s defensive lockdown on Clark was simply another day at work.
“This is the expectation placed on me every night, whether it’s Caitlin or any other team we’re facing,” she declared. “It’s what one would predict. It’s the usual way of things.” Sides expressed her confidence that Clark can adapt to the size and quickness of top defenders like as Carrington.
“The newspaper had a game plan against her, and it will take some time for her to adapt to that level of speed, quickness, and physicality,” Sides stated. “We try our best to emulate and represent that during practice with our practice men, but it’s just not the same.”
Leg cramps caused Carrington to leave the game for a portion of the second half, but otherwise her performance was excellent.
“I should drink less coffee because I need to improve my hydration,” she said. DeWanna Bonner, a veteran of the Connecticut WNBA, scored 20 points as well as moved up to No. 5 on the all-time scoring chart. Indiana is putting a lot of faith on Clark to help them overcome last season’s conference-worst 13-27 record.
The WNBA runners-up from the previous season, the New York City Liberty, will be the Fever’s home openers on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET at Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
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