Former Iowa standout Caitlin Clark returned to the same arena where she watched her first WNBA game, only this time she was on the court, not in the stands.
Clark returned to the Target Center Sunday as a professional basketball player after she won the Big Ten Tournament with the Iowa Hawkeyes in March. She finished with 34 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds, along with the game-sealing steal in overtime against Nebraska.
Clark reminisced pregame about the first WNBA game she attended when she was twelve years old between the Minnesota Lynx and the Seattle Storm.
“My dad called the ticket office to get tickets to the game because we drove up here and didn’t have any and the guy at the ticketing office said, ‘Does she want to come and watch the shootaround?’” Clark said. “Lindsay Whalen came over, Seimone Augustus came over. I remember meeting them.”
Clark won seven straight games at Target Center including the last two Big Ten Tournaments and the Fever win on Sunday. She said it is the Minnesota crowd that gets her going.
“Target Center is awesome,” Clark said. “I just remember when I was in college people were lined up overnight to try and get in the door. This city supports women’s basketball.”
When it came time for tip-off, the Lynx tradition of fans standing until the team’s first basket ended quickly when Clark turned over the ball in the first play of the game and Lynx forward Alanna Smith scored.
Smith was the first player of either team to reach double figures, finishing the first quarter with 13 points and going 4-for-6 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Clark hit her first 3-pointer of the game with just over three minutes left in the first half. She struggled to take care of the ball in the first half and finished with four turnovers at halftime.
The matchup was tight though, with the teams tied at 38. Fever forward Aliyah Boston led her team in points and Smith did the same for the Lynx. Boston finished the first half with a double-double in points and rebounds, whereas Smith tallied 15 points and 6 rebounds.
The Lynx started the second half like the first, with a bucket in 20 seconds, this time a shot from Courtney Williams giving her six points on the day.
The Lynx defense stifled Clark in the third quarter, holding her scoreless and building a seven-point lead of their own, 60-53 Minnesota.
Clark opened the fourth quarter with a left-wing 3-pointer drawn up by Fever head coach Christie Sides. Clark’s shot was immediately answered on the other end by Bridget Carleton.
“Christie diagramed a great play to start the fourth quarter and got me a great clean look,” Clark said. “Honestly, that was the perfect start for us, we cut it to three points and then came down and got a stop.”
The floodgates opened for both teams from beyond the arc as they combined for four 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the final frame. A 3-pointer from Fever forward Katie Lou Samuelson tied the game at 63 with eight minutes left.
Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell started to put down buckets when she knocked down a three on the other end, giving her 17 points and reclaiming the lead for the Fever. Mitchell said she tries to stay in rhythm depending on the game’s flow and what the team needs.
Both teams relied on their strengths down the stretch. For the Fever, it was ball movement, leading to easy buckets at the rim and for the Lynx, driving to the hoop and passing to shooters around the arc.
Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve credited the Fever’s defense for limiting what they could do offensively.
“They were up in our locations to pass, but it also felt like we were sticky at times,” Reeve said. “Our offense is predicated on that movement inside and out, seek the paint and make plays.”
The Fever put a bow on the 81-74 victory as Clark was fouled with 10 seconds left, sending her to the free-throw line. A mass of Fever faithful erupted inside Target Center.