Caitlin Clark made an unfortunate debut in her regular-season WNBA game on Tuesday night.
Clark, the No. 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever last month, was unable to lead her new team to victory, resulting in a 92-71 loss against the Connecticut Sun. The Sun’s pesky defense made things difficult for the two-time national college player of the year and her teammates.
The former Iowa star led the Fever in scoring and was the joint top scorer of the night, with both her and Connecticut’s DeWanna Bonner scoring 20 points. Clark had to work hard for every point she earned.
“There’s a lot to learn from; it’s the first one,” she told reporters after the game, according to NBC. “There’s going to be good ones, there’s going to be bad ones.”
Clark, who shot 5-for-15 from the field and 4-for-11 from three, committed 10 turnovers. While her 20 points were the second-most for a player making her debut — behind Tamika Catchings’ 23 — her 10 turnovers were the most for a first-year player since Betty Lennox made 11 on August 9, 2000, according to Across the Timeline.
“Obviously too many turnovers — that’s not going to get the job done,” Clark admitted. “There’s a lot of things to learn from. I would have liked to have played a little better tonight.”
Diana Taurasi’s warning started circulating after Caitlin Clark’s debut. Taurasi had cautioned that the transition to the WNBA would be challenging.
“You look superhuman playing against some 18-year-olds but you’re going to come play with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time,” Taurasi told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt a few weeks ago.
Clark and the Fever will play the New York Liberty at home on Thursday night and hope to go 1-1 in the rookie’s second game.
