A sold out crowd of 17,424 filled Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to watch Caitlin Clark’s home debut for the Indiana Fever against the New York Liberty, last season’s WNBA Eastern Conference champions.
Unfortunately, Clark struggled in her second WNBA game, scoring just nine points in front of the home crowd (which including Iowa coaches Lisa Bluder and Jan Jensen). He shot 2 of 8 from the field (including 1 of 7 on 3-pointers), but added seven rebounds and six assists in a 102-66 loss to one of the league’s best teams.
Reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart was the player who put on a show, scoring 31 points to lead the Liberty. Stewart completely overwhelmed Indiana’s frontcourt, hitting 12 of 21 field goals and grabbing 10 rebounds with four assists.
Sabrina Ionescu finished with 14 points for New York with seven rebounds. Jonquel Jones added 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 12. The Liberty also scored 22 points off the bench, led by Kayla Thornton’s nine.
New York improved to 2-0 on the season, while Indiana fell to 0-2.
The sellout at home was the Fever’s first since October 2012, when they played in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. The crowd was also second best for a first home game in franchise history (behind 18,345 in 2003) and the third-highest attendance for a regular-season game (17,704 in 2016).
Clark never shook off a slow start
Unfortunately, Clark didn’t give the home fans much to cheer about in the first half. He scored just two points on 1-of-5 shooting (and 0-of-4 on 3-pointers) and committed three turnovers, while facing tough defense from Liberty’s Courtney Vandersloot and Ivana Dojkic.
The former Iowa star added four rebounds and five assists, but struggled to find her shot in an Indiana offense that often looked uncertain and caused her to turn the ball over. Seven of Clark’s nine points came in the third quarter.
Clark also struggled on the defensive end, getting into foul trouble that seemed to affect his aggressiveness. He finished with five personal fouls on the night.
Aliyah Boston led the Fever with 12 points and seven rebounds in a tough matchup with Jones. Katie Lou Samuelson added 10.
Next up for Clark and the Fever is another showdown with Liberty, this one in New York on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 pm ET and the game will be televised on ABC.