Any video game concerning WNBA rookie phenoms Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark is heading to be hotly anticipated – and Sunday’s recreation involving the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever lived up to fans’ stratospheric expectations.
Angel Reese netted a vocation-significant 25 factors on top rated of 16 rebounds, good for a rookie file eighth-straight double-double – though supporting the Sky to a nailbiter of an 88-87 victory. The two teams retained it near via three quarters, with the lead on a regular basis changing arms right before the Fever received scorching in the 3rd and prolonged their direct by as significantly as 15 details. That momentum didn’t keep, nonetheless, and the Sky stormed again to squeak out a one particular-point victory.
Reese was the 1st rookie to record 25 factors and 16 rebounds in a video game since Olympic gold medalist and former WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson in 2018. She is only just one of three WNBA gamers to record eight straight double-doubles in historical past. Reese stated her operate succinctly in a article-match job interview.
“I’m a pet, you can not instruct that,” she shared with ESPN’s Holly Rowe.
Clark also recorded a double-double, scoring 17 details and introducing 13 assists. The pair have been rivals given that their days in the NCAA. Clark and Reese direct Iowa and LSU, respectively, to back again-to-again appearances in the Women’s March Madness tournament. LSU beat Iowa for the countrywide championship in 2023 and Iowa ousted LSU from the event this 12 months.
Reese informed reporters in March that the pair keep no own animosity toward each other.
“I do not think folks understand it’s not own,” Reese said. “Once we get out among all those strains, if I see you strolling down the road, it is like, ‘Hey, girl, what is up? Let’s cling out.’ I believe folks just choose it like we despise each and every other. Me and Caitlin Clark really don’t loathe each individual other. I want every person to have an understanding of that.”
Clark discounted the strategy that there was any rivalry among the two rookies on Friday, June 21.
“I’m really positive the only people today that check out this as a rivalry is all of you,” she stated all through a post-game press convention. “Like, to us it is just a recreation of basketball.”
Whether or not they think in the rivalry, there is no question of the result it’s possessing on the WNBA fandom. The ordinary ticket price for Clark and Reese’s Sunday showdown was the most costly in WNBA record, for every CNN. The Sky and Fever’s matchup a person 7 days in the past was the most-viewed WNBA game in additional than 20 yrs.