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Caitlin Clark Cooked in Her WNBA Debut

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Caitlin Clark

Getty Caitlin Clark during a May 3 WNBA game.

Caitlin Clark’s WNBA preseason debut on May 3 has now come and gone. 

It didn’t take Clark long to score her first WNBA basket. And just as fans saw the Iowa icon do 548 times in college, Clark’s first points came with her draining a three-pointer. 

Clark finished the first quarter with 11 points on 3-of-4 from three point range. 

At the end of the first half, Clark led all scorers with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three-point range. 

At one point in the second quarter, Clark made a hesitation move to step back three-pointer that had the announcers stunned. 

Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho reposted a video of the 2024 WNBA draft‘s No. 1 overall pick draining a three on X, and wrote, “Them: “Caitlin Clark isn’t gonna be able to do that in the WNBA”

“Caitlin Clark:”

The Fever were leading the Wings 48-40 at halftime, but ultimately fell 79-76.

Clark picked up two fouls soon after the second half started. As a result, she only played 5 minutes in the third quarter, and didn’t score any points. 

She then returned to form in the fourth quarter. 

An excellent pass fourth quarter she had to teammate Aliyah Boston showed that, even if shots aren’t falling, Clark can still make an impact on offense. 

Clark’s debut ended with her scoring 21 points, including shooting 5 of 13 from three point range.

Although she had a +6 point differential while on the court, her effort wasn’t enough to get Indiana the win.

Dallas guard Arike Ogunbowale drained a step back three pointer with seconds left on the game clock, to give the Wings a 79-76 lead over the Fever. 

Clark missed a buzzer beater to tie the game. Therefore, the Fever lost, 79-76.

Proving the Doubters Wrong

Lindsay Schnell of CBS Sports wrote in a May 3 article, “Defenders are going to be aggressive and physical with Clark, so it’s likely she’ll struggle to score at the clip she did in college.”

Well, the Iowa legend’s college scoring has clearly translated into the professional game so far. Through the first half, she was on pace to surpass her 31.6 points per game clip in college last season. 

While she didn’t reach that mark, the 21 points Clark scored still constitutes a successful WNBA debut.

Caitlin Clark Is Already a Major WNBA Draw

Even before shooting her first WNBA shot, Clark has proven to be a main attraction for the WNBA. 

On April 17, Evan Sidery posted on X that regular season court side seats to Fever games were selling for more than playoff seats for the Indiana Pacers.

What’s more, TickPick (an online marketplace for events tickets that allows users to bid on tickets) head of content Kyle Zorn posted a shocking comparison about ticket prices involving Clark on X. 

“Caitlin Clark makes her WNBA debut tonight in Dallas against the Dallas Wings – this is a preseason game.” Zorn wrote. “The cheapest ticket available is $104 on @TickPick and the average purchase price is $109. To put things in perspective… The avg. purchase price for a WNBA regular season game last year was $47 The avg. purchase price for a [Dallas Mavericks] regular season game this season was $111″.

And this was just her first WNBA game. 

Grant Young covers Major League Baseball, college basketball and the WNBA for Heavy.com. His sports coverage has also been featured at FanBuzz and NY Fights. More about Grant Young

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