Clark, last year\u2019s Rookie of the Year, missed the game<\/a> with an injured left groin. Indiana still won 94-86 despite Bueckers finishing with 27 points, six assists, two steals and two blocks.<\/p>\nSo WNBA fans waited until Sunday for their next chance.<\/p>\n
Round 1 took place in Indianapolis, which is within driving distance of their respective hometowns in Iowa and Minnesota. They previously squared off in the 2024 Final Four when Clark helped Iowa rally past UConn 71-69 to reach the national championship game.<\/p>\n
Yes, Clark got the upper hand again Sunday, but Bueckers also demonstrated why so many consider her this year\u2019s Rookie of the Year favorite \u2014 she\u2019s not afraid of mixing it up with anyone, including Clark, on the professional level.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to be aggressive, read what the defenses are doing, get out in transition and do what we\u2019ve been doing,\u201d Bueckers said after matching Clark\u2019s seven-point first quarter. \u201cMy teammates are doing a great job setting screens, getting me open.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fever, who were last season\u2019s struggling young up-and-coming team, certainly made it more difficult the rest of the way for Bueckers & Co.<\/p>\n
Bueckers went 9 of 15 from the floor and 2 of 4 from beyond the arc while Clark\u2019s shooting struggles continued. <\/p>\n
Clark was 4 of 12 from the field and 2 of 7 on 3s but also had five steals.<\/p>\n
The biggest difference: Clark\u2019s ability to get teammates involved.<\/p>\n
Indiana finished with 30 assists on 40 baskets, including one midway through the second quarter that began with a block by Clark. All-Star center Aliyah Boston grabbed the ball, got it ahead to Clark who immediately whipped a perfect touchdown-like pass over the outstretched hands of one defender and into the hands of Sophie Cunningham for a layup midway through the second quarter.<\/p>\n
The play started a 14-5 run that put Indiana in control and allowed the Fever to score a league-high 64 first-half points.<\/p>\n
Clark did give the Fever a brief scare, though, with an awkward collision with the basketball stanchion on a missed layup. She stayed down momentarily and left the game for a few minutes before returning to help Indiana deliver the knockout punch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought my playmaking was really good, there was no reason for me to shoot that much,\u201d Clark said. \u201cWhen we have five people in double figures, we\u2019re going to be pretty hard to beat. We were just kind of clicking on all cylinders, moving the ball well, getting to the next action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fans won\u2019t have to wait so long for a rematch. Bueckers and Clark will be on opposite teams at Saturday\u2019s All-Star Game in Indianapolis, and they will meet twice in August, too.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP WNBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/wnba-basketball<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers each produced remarkably efficient stat lines in their first professional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[8619,7,455,31444,2340,2329,6074,27954,588,113,2624,3734,307,577,6113,3748,66,3747,458,11239,11862],"class_list":{"0":"post-169798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-aliyah-boston","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-caitlin-clark","11":"tag-clark-matchup","12":"tag-connecticut","13":"tag-ct-state-wire","14":"tag-dallas-wings","15":"tag-ia-state-wire","16":"tag-in-state-wire","17":"tag-indiana","18":"tag-indianapolis","19":"tag-iowa","20":"tag-minnesota","21":"tag-mn-state-wire","22":"tag-paige-bueckers","23":"tag-sophie-cunningham","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-stephanie-white","26":"tag-wnba","27":"tag-wnba-basketball","28":"tag-womens-national-basketball-association"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114851005353385857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}