It was a night marked in red on all basketball lovers’ calendars. An unmissable date with history with Caitlin Clark’s WNBA debut. The Indiana Fever visited the Connecticut Sun to raise the curtain on season I of Clark’s reign in the American league. And he did it with the stands full, expectant to see the latest great basketball phenomenon.
Clark landed in the professional league after having achieved everything in the NCAA and having completely changed the paradigm of women’s basketball. Top male or female scorer, queen of the audience and with a legion of followers that has not abandoned her in these first steps in the WNBA… even though the player from Boise (Idaho) did not have her best night.
The Fever player, who lost the game 91-72, had a record debut, although in her case it was negative. Clark committed 10 losses, the most achieved by a rookie in the history of the competition., in addition to shooting 5 of 15 from the field, affected by the rival defense, which from the beginning made him understand the toughness of professional basketball. Yes indeed, The number 1 in the draft finished with 20 points and three assists to her name.
His debut caused enormous expectation in the United States, to the point that The Fever’s visit to the Sun was broadcast live nationally on ‘ESPN2’. Something that will happen with another 37 of the 39 games that remain to the whole of Indianapolis. A team that has managed to fill the stands wherever they go, as they demonstrated during their visit to the Mohegan Sun Arena.
A venue that had queues at its entrances for two hours before the duel began. An image until now unpublished in the WNBA. “It’s so emotional, so amazing,” said Candace Crabtree, a former college coach who had traveled from Boston with his wife and her 8-year-old daughter to see the game. “It’s just an amazing experience because as an athlete and as a coach, we didn’t have the same type of exposure.”
“I’m disappointed. Nobody likes to lose. But, we have to learn from this”
Caitlin Clark
The thousands of fans who crowded into the stands enjoyed a historic match, despite Clark’s numbers, who could not hide his anger after the duel. “I’m disappointed. Nobody likes to lose. But you can’t be too disappointed, we have to learn from this,” Clark said at the post-match press conference. “It was a physical game and I didn’t get off to the best start. I had foul trouble and had to sit on the bench before I could get back on the court. There’s a lot to learn. “I hope to feel more comfortable with the experience,” she added.
This is how it went for the Spanish women of the WNBA
Clark came across a Sun pair that is a candidate for the title and in which the Spanish player played Astou Ndour. The center of Senegalese origin He came off the bench and played three minutes in which he could not shoot a basket and lost a ball in his team’s victory. A victory in which Alyssa Thomas shined above all with a triple-double of 13 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, well accompanied by Dewanna Bonner, with another 20 points.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, the current WNBA champions began their defense of the ring with a victory against the Phoenix Mercury. The Aces were led once again by A’Ja Wilson with 30 points and 13 rebounds, while the Spanish international Megan Gustafson played 15 minutes in which she scored 5 points (one of two from three-point range) and captured three rebounds.
2024-05-15 06:44:30
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