Caitlin Clark makes her WNBA debut to sellout crowd

Caitlin Clark made her WNBA debut in an exhibition game Friday as the Indiana Fever faced the Dallas Wings.

Clark’s first game was the WNBA’s first preseason game. It was the first of two games for the Fever that will take place before Clark makes her regular-season debut against the Connecticut Sun on May 14, The Associated Press reported.

Fever lost to the Wings 79-76, CBS News reported. Clark was the leading scorer in the game with 21 points on 6 of 15 plus five 3-pointers. She had also three rebounds and two assists within 28 minutes.

The exhibition game had a sellout crowd. Clark received an ovation before tipoff, the AP reported.

She joined All-Star center Aliyah Boston, who is the WNBA Rookie of the Year and was the overall No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, according to CNN.

Clark made her preseason debut a day earlier due to a scheduling conflict, the Indiana Fever announced, according to ESPN.

“Did you give it every single thing you had? I think that’s the biggest thing,” Clark said, according to the AP. “I want to step out onto the court, and then I want to leave the court tonight and feel like I played like Caitlin Clark’s played my entire life.”

“I think it’s going to be loud tonight, probably the loudest preseason game I’ve ever been part of,” said Wings center Kalani Brown, the AP reported. “It’s really great that Caitlin’s bringing all this attention to women’s basketball, so I’m really grateful for that. It’s great for our game.”

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark passes Pete Maravich’s record, becomes top scorer in NCAA Division I

Clark was the No. 1 pick in this year’s WNBA draft. She was drafted by the Fever after she had a historic season with the NCAA at Iowa, CNN reported.

Clark had announced at the end of February ahead of March Madness that she would be leaving the University of Iowa’s women’s basketball program and would be entering the WNBA draft.

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