Sami Whitcomb Unconcerned With Caitlin Clark Effect as She Prepares First Faceoff Against Indiana Fever

The WNBA 2024 has had a thrilling welcome. While teams like the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Suns have found exceptional success, undefeated, the favor hasn’t sided with the Seattle Storm and the Indiana Fever. The two teams, with 3 and 4 losses respectively, will lock horns on Wednesday at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Taking note of the same, the Storm star Sami Whitcomb shared her take on the upcoming match as she stands to rival the 2024 No.1 draft, Caitlin Clark.

Whitcomb was present during a post-match conference with her teammate Jewell Loyd when she asked to address the elephant in the room. A confident Whitcomb spoke at length about battling Clark’s Fever, giving an insight into the Storm’s mindset when questioned about it.

“Win. For sure. um You know I think we… we believe in each other. We believe in what we’re doing, um and we know that we’re right there. So, it’s just fine-tuning some things. We’ll watch the film, we’ll figure it out. We’ll take care of what we need to take care of, but every game the mentality is to win… um Absolutely and you know we’ve come up short a couple of times but um you know as you said improvements are being made and we’re right there,” Whitcomb stated.

Clark left college as the all-time highest scorer and coming into the WNBA, while she has wavered, she has continued to be a reliable force for the Indiana Fever. She has scored a game-high with 20 points on her debut and a team-high twice with 17 and 22 in the 4 clashes so far. As she has continued working on her skills, the Caitlin Clark effect has been in full force, selling out stadiums during the Fever’s play, game or away. It was also reported that the franchise witnessed a 93% increase in sales upon her presence. 

The Connecticut Sun saw a sold-out stadium for the first time in 20 years while Gainbridge Fieldhouse witnessed yet another sellout with 17,274 in attendance. The New York Liberty then posted more than $2 million in ticket revenue, setting a WNBA record. Now as she arrives in Seattle, reports state a record is not too far. And amidst the loud fanfare, the Storm, having lost 3 games out of 4 is expecting to gain momentum.

The Storm has played their first 4 games against the Minnesota Lynx, Washington Mystics, and the New York Liberty, winning only against the Mystics. Therefore, it comes off as a surprise and a mark of relief for the Storm fans that Whitcomb is not concerned about Clark and Co. Hopefully for her fans she carries the confidence into the match and emerges victorious. 

Jewell Loyd supports Sami Whitcomb’s mindset

After losing a closer match to the New York Liberty by a margin of 63-74, Whitcomb’s teammate Loyd also sent out confident signals. She talked about watching the film and learning from her mistakes, commenting on how they would get better with the next game. “Well! We lost… So, we all lost. It’s not just my… my night and so… obviously we’ll going to get better, um watch the film, and get ready for our next game,” Loyd added. 

The Storm guard has recorded 13 points and 9 rebounds while making 3 of 3 free throws. However, where Loyd suffered was in 3 pointers, failing to make a single hoop in 4 attempts and recorded 3 Turnovers. The aspect has been general to the team having posted 20 turnovers against the Mystics and 17 against Lynx. But the two remain optimistic and look to focus on team work.

“We haven’t played together a lot. We are figuring out how to play together. Defenses are good in WNBA and we are just working through that… We are a new group. We are battling some things. But we will get to the otherside… by midseason.” With that, the team will look to bring Caitlin Clark and Co. to 0-5 on the 22nd.