CHICAGO — Before Friday’s game, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese each said they didn’t care about the Rookie of the Year race.
“Both of our teams are competing for playoff spots and that’s our main focus,” Clark said.
“I think you guys have made it a big thing,” Reese said.
It might not be much of a thing at all the way Clark’s season is going.
The race between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese for Rookie of the Year has been a hot topic all season.
But both players say they don't care about it at all and emphasized they're focused on getting their teams to the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/8vWej3Xkpo
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 30, 2024
Behind a season-high 31 points from Clark, the Indiana Fever (16-16) crushed the Chicago Sky 100-81 and continued its torrid pace since the month-long Olympic break, winning for the fifth time in six games. They took the season series from the Sky, 3-1.
Clark went 8 of 14 from the field, including 5 for 9 from 3-point range, and went 10 of 11 from the free throw line. Additionally, Clark had 12 assists and three turnovers in 32 minutes. She is averaging 24 points and 8.5 assists since the break.
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The fading Sky (11-20) lost for the sixth time in seven games since the break. Their top scorer, quicksilver guard Chennedy Carter, missed her second game in a row under health and safety protocol, though starting guards Lindsay Allen and Rachel Banham combined for 33 points.
In August, the Sky’s defense has slipped, allowing 84.2 points per game — 2.9 more than their season average. Coach Teresa Weatherspoon said the Sky have “a lot of things that we need to correct.”
“It starts on the defensive side of the ball,” Weatherspoon said. “We are a defensive team and if we’re not getting stops, we’re not being disruptive.
“We’re allowing teams to get shots where they want, how they want it and when they want it.”
Reese had 10 points and 11 rebounds in a down night. Since the break, Reese’s shooting woes have been evident, but she is still averaging 12.1 points and 16.1 rebounds, led by three straight 20-rebound games. Reese passed Tina Charles for the most rebounds by a rookie with 399.
The Fever moved past the Phoenix Mercury (16-16) for sixth place — Indiana has won all three head-to-head matchups — while the eighth-place Sky are only a half-game up on the Atlanta Dream for the last playoff spot, though Chicago has the head-to-head tiebreaker.
With only eight games left in the regular season, Clark highlighted the importance of each game going forward.
“This was a big one for us,” she said. “It almost counts as two when you’re in a playoff race with a loss and a win. So it was a big one. But also, we wanted to win the season series with them. That was kind of a focus point.”
“And the last time we were here, we were 15 in the fourth quarter and kind of fumbled it away,” she continued. “So that was another opportunity for us to come in here and show what we’re about.”
A game against two lower-half playoff teams doesn’t always fill arenas and draw courtside celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal, Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, Chicago Bears Tremaine Edmunds and D’Andre Swift and Bulls first-round pick Matas Buzelis, but Clark versus Reese is the head-to-head matchup that has had people talking since their NCAA tournament donnybrooks.
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And the rivalry has carried over to the WNBA.
In early June,the teams had a contentious game in Indianaand then at the end of the month, theSky won a nailbiterat Wintrust Arena.
The league has benefited from the drama, but the rookies are just trying to survive a grueling schedule before the playoffs begin in late September.
“Our focus is on winning basketball games,” Clark said. “It’s simple as that. It’s winning basketball games. And that was the same story for us when we were in college.”
There wasn’t much in terms of fireworks in this game, but with 3:52 left and the Fever up 96-71, Sky guard Diamond DeShields collided with Clark on the break. The transition take foul was upgraded to a flagrant-1 foul. Clark hit both free throws and came out of the game for good.
Required reading
- Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese to make WNBA All-Star Game debuts
- Caitlin Clark hits 86th 3-pointer to break WNBA rookie record
- Sky’s Angel Reese posts 13th consecutive double-double, breaks Candace Parker’s record
(Photo: Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)
Jon Greenberg is a columnist for The Athletic based in Chicago. He was also the founding editor of The Athletic. Before that, he was a columnist for ESPN and the executive editor of Team Marketing Report. Follow Jon on Twitter @jon_greenberg
