In the Indiana Fever’s season opening on Tuesday at Mohegan Sun Arena, Caitlin Clark scored a team-high 20 points but also committed 10 turnovers, the most in a WNBA career debut.
The top choice in this year’s draft and all-time best scorer in NCAA Division I basketball, Clark, was kept scoreless in the first quarter and didn’t score until 5:24 into the second.
“Disappointed and nobody likes to lose, that’s how it is,” Clark said. “Can’t beat yourself up too much about one game.”
The atmosphere and intensity of a playoff or Finals game pervaded the contest. More than two and a half hours before to the kickoff, fans wearing Sun, Fever, and even Iowa apparel waited in line to enter the stadium. More than 170 media passes were distributed by The Sun, with ESPN’s “WNBA Countdown” desk located next to the Fever bench and overflow media from nearby locations occupying a skybox.
The Sun’s home opener sold out in front of 8,910 fans for the first time since their 2003 debut in Connecticut.
The audience cheered as Clark, who became the face of women’s basketball while attending Iowa for her undergraduate education, collected the ball off the opening tip, scored her first points in the official WNBA (off a layup), and started making baskets from beyond the 3-point line.
However, the Sun gave its supporters something to cheer about throughout the game, taking the lead four minutes in, outscoring Indiana by as much as fifteen late in the second quarter, and preventing them from getting any closer than five points. The most applauding moments came during a stoppage honoring DeWanna Bonner, a 14-year veteran who had become the league’s fifth-highest scorer, and late in the fourth quarter when Alyssa Thomas recorded her 12th career triple-double (including playoff play).
In reference to climbing the WNBA’s lifetime scoring list, Bonner remarked, “To do it here on this night with this team, this group, and this crowd made it more special.” It was enormous, and I was able to cross it off my list of goals. It’s difficult to get into this level, and it’s much tougher to remain there. That is an incredible list to be on. I should give myself a pat on the back for it.
After Tuesday morning’s shootaround, Clark had some time to reflect. Although some may think she will succeed in the WNBA immediately, she realizes it may take some time. Tuesday’s game demonstrated that learning curve: against a Connecticut team renowned for its aggressiveness and defense, Clark committed the most turnovers (10 in total), making it the most in Fever history. In June 1997, during the first-ever WNBA season, Cynthia Cooper set the previous record for the most turnovers in a career debut—eight.
“Some uncharacteristic things, like pick the ball up and travel, dribble it off my foot,” Clark said. “A few things that, you know, you have to be crisper.”
Fourth-year guard DiJonai Carrington of Stanford and Baylor earned the starting assignment on Clark and held her down for the most of the game. When Carrington was the starting defender, she caused eight turnovers and limited Clark to 2-of-10 shooting. Clark was sometimes plagued by Thomas, a regular contender for Defensive Player of the Year, who also committed many fouls against the rookie.
Later in the game, Clark began to establish more of a rhythm from beyond the 3-point line, making three of her four 3-pointers in the second half. She shot 5-for-15 from the field in total, including 4-for-11 from three, and added two steals and three assists.
On the other side, Carrington and Tyasha Harris combined for 32 points, while Bonner scored a team-high 20 to help Connecticut win. After rupturing her right Achilles tendon in June of last year, two-time All-Star Brionna Jones returned to the league officially and scored eight points in less than twenty minutes.
“Caitlin managed to garner her a few glances and even take them down. Christie Sides, the Indiana coach, said, “Our spacing was not great.” “Connecticut gave us a tongue-lashing tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll be viewing a ton of videos in the gym to try to figure out how to avoid turning the ball over 25 times.”
The Fever have lost their opening game in 10 of the previous 11 seasons; their lone victory came in 2019. They want to break the league’s longest current postseason skid at seven seasons by the conclusion of the year.
Clark and the Fever will face the New York Liberty, the WNBA Finals runner-up from the previous season, first in Indianapolis on Thursday and then in Brooklyn on Saturday, before to a rematch against the Sun on Monday.
“Our preseason game was tremendous, doing it for real is going to be a lot of fun; it’s going to be loud,” Clark said. “Use the environment to our advantage.”
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