GAME RECAP: Highlights from Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, final score

INDIANAPOLIS – Caitlin Clark entered her new arena Thursday night with No. 22 shirts and jerseys strewn from floor to ceiling.

A late-arriving but still louder than usual crowd roared during his first official presentation to Fever fans. And when Clark made the layup for his first basket with 7:00 left in the first quarter, the applause grew. It was even stronger when she completed a three-point play a few minutes later.

Yes, Clark managed to make his most anticipated rookie debut in town since Peyton Manning played for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts in 1998, even if it wasn’t quite the most anticipated debut .

She missed her first two shots and her first four 3-pointers. She had two assists and a turnover in the first five minutes, and her new teammates struggled to take advantage of her crisp passes in the paint, putting the Fever in an early 18-8 deficit.

Still, it was a great success and a welcome change for Fever.

“People really know who I am,” she said before the match. “Sometimes it’s hard to go out and do what I want to do, but at the same time, I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is the best way to develop women’s basketball. It’s the best way to get these fans excited about what we’re going to do here, so I think people are just as excited as we are to play here. So I think more than anything, enjoy it, soak it up.

Clark certainly tried to follow his own advice.

Indiana opened the third deck of seats at Gainbridge Fieldhouse instead of covering it with curtains, and attendance for Indiana’s only home preseason game was up — well up — compared to the last year’s regular season average of just over 4,000 per game. Nearly two-thirds of the more than 17,000 seats were filled midway through the first quarter against the Atlanta Dream and, judging by the attire, most came to see Clark — even for a postponed contest.

Indiana was originally scheduled to play Friday, but moved the game when the NBA announced the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks would play Game 3 of their best-of-seven series in that time slot.

Yet the WNBA’s No. 1 overall selection has generated more interest and attention in women’s basketball than most of her predecessors, giving her a platform few others possess and she’s taking full advantage of it.

Her presence, along with others in perhaps the most heralded rookie class in WNBA history, prompted league commissioner Cathy Engelbert to announce earlier this week that she was preparing to spend $50 million on charter flights over the next two seasons.

Meanwhile, curiosity surrounding Clark is causing some opponents to move games to larger venues to accommodate ticket sales and a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 will now see 36 of its 40 regular season games broadcast on national television.

For Clark, playing in front of a full arena has become the norm. For her teammates and coaches, this could be the start of something bigger than they could have imagined.

“This is what women’s basketball has always been about,” said 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston. “I think it’s really cool that fans follow their favorite players from college to the league because that’s how we continue to grow.”

Especially when it comes to a generational type player like Clark, who has fully embraced his new hometown.

“Honestly, I expect a lot of people to be here, I expect it to be loud, I expect the fans to be really involved,” Clark said. “Like I know these fans are going to show up and they know what’s going to happen on the field. I think sometimes you can show up at arenas and they just sit there. But like when I was in college, they were invested, they know what’s going on.

“I think it’s the same thing in the state of Indiana, the people who support Fever, who support the Pacers, are invested. So they’re going to cheer, they’re going to go after the refs.”