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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

The lady luck has not sided with Caitlin Clark yet. However, while she is two games down where she faced embarrassing losses, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft wishes to see the brighter side of it all. The fans backlashing her for not being as productive as they would have hoped does not seem to be taking a toll on the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer. Instead, she just looks at these games as learning opportunities for her to grow into the league.

Talking about her WNBA debut and home defeat, Clark said, “I was frustrated, and I knew I could have performed a lot better.” The star guard, however, acknowledged that it was just her first league game and iterated, It’s a great learning opportunity for me against one of the best teams in the league. For myself, maybe individual-wise...” But that wasn’t the only optimism Clark held.

Continuing to look at the silver lining, she added, “But the memories from that game it’ll always be something for me like, ‘Where did you play your first WNBA game at?’ It’ll always be at Connecticut. That’ll just be something that you remember and cherish. Hopefully, looking back, my 10 turnovers will be something that I can laugh about… But I think that’ll be something I remember but also my first home opener will be kind of up there and just the same for sure.”

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Caitlin Clark has attracted many eyes toward her game during the last two years of her college basketball career. Breaking records right and left to become the NCAA’s leading scorer, and stirring the crowd to post unprecedented attendance, she truly had become synonymous with the progress of women’s sports. However, her transition to the WNBA is not going as smoothly as she would have hoped.

Reviewing WNBA openers for Caitlin Clark

So far, the rookie has two games in her gauntlet as a professional hooper. Both of them turned into huge losses for the franchise. However, looking through the microscope, her home opener was a chance for her to see how she performs when one of her idols Sabrina Ionescu is against her. Tonight, she probably tried for a triple-double as she added decent numbers to every stat. In the only 3rd-time sellout Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Caitlin Clark contributed 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists to the team’s total. This marked Clark’s first time since Jan 2021 to post scores in single digits.

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On her WNBA debut in Uncasville, the rookie displayed her offensive prowess by grabbing a game-high 20 points.

 

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Provided that, coach Christie Sides believes, the 22-year-old is to have the right support and does not blames her entirely for the recording franchise high 10 turnovers. “We’ve got to do a better job of coming back to the ball,” she admitted.

There are 38 more games to go until the basketball world finally hits the playoffs. And if time is proof of anything, Clark can be really damaging once she gets settled in. With the same hope, the Fever fans will definitely want her to do that sooner rather than later. She also has a chance to take back her throne from the Liberty as Indiana visits the 2023 WNBA finalists at their home tonight.