Catherine Rusoff
WNBA fever is in the air, and fans finally got to see Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese suit up as pros for the first time on Friday night as the league’s brief preseason begins. Clark and Reese were standouts in college, with the former cracking NCAA Division I score record and the last leading LSU to an NCAA title in 2023.
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Clark’s Indiana Fever faced the Dallas Wings in Arlington while Reese’s Chicago Sky traveled to Minneapolis to play in the Minnesota lynx.
Clark missed a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer as the Fever lost to the Wings 79-76. Despite the loss, Clark was the team’s leading scorer, finishing with 21 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field, including five 3-pointers, as well as three rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes.
Reese also came off his preseason debut without a win as the Sky fell to the Lynx 81-92. Reese finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes.
The WNBA initially incorrectly indicated that all of its preseason games would be available on WNBA League Pass.
“Apologies! Our app is incorrectly showing that all preseason games (including CHI vs MIN) are available on League Pass. But you *can* watch IND vs DAL tonight in a FREE WNBA League Pass preview in the app WNBA,” said the WNBA posted on social media less than half an hour before departure.
While the Fever game was streamed for free on the WNBA app as advertised, the Sky vs. Lynx was not available anywhere – officially, that is.
A Lynx fan at the game showed up in the clutch, hosting a live stream which drew more than 170,000 viewers in the fourth quarter.
The wings announced on social media last week, tickets for the game in Arlington were sold out. Clark, the first overall pick in this year’s WNBA draft, will arrive in town alongside Aaliyah Boston, the top pick in last year’s draft and unanimous rookie of the year.
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The Fever have not reached the playoffs since 2016 and are currently in the ninth place in the CBS Sports Power Ratings. The Sky, who drafted Reese with the seventh pick, ranked last among the WNBA’s 12 teams. Reese’s LSU was eliminated by Clark in this year’s NCAA tournament.
Reese isn’t the only rookie Chicago hopes will turn its team around. The team spent the third pick on 6-foot-7 Camila Cardosowho led the University of South Carolina to a championship about Clark’s Hawkeyes in April.
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Dawn Staley, Cardoso’s trainer, credited Clark as the “sole reason” why audience for women’s basketball recently grew into a interview with 670 The Score last month. The championship game drew 18.9 million viewers by ESPNthe most watched college basketball game of all time on the network.
“She’s the best of her time. I want women’s basketball to grow and I’m not ashamed to say why it grows. She’s made it grow the last two years,” Staley said in the interview.
The WNBA preseason will continue until next Friday, with the regular season kicking off on May 14.
