BY ROBERT ANTHONY MORALES – SPORTS ON AIR USA CORRESPONDENT
LOS ANGELES — Nobody said it was going to be easy. And Caitlin Clark found that out in her professional debut on Tuesday.
The former Iowa star, who is quickly becoming the face of women’s basketball had an error-prone performance in her first WNBA game, finishing with 10 turnovers as the Indiana Fever fell to the Connecticut Sun, 92-71.
The was a silver lining, though.
Clark rattled in 20 points on 5-for-11 shooting from the field and 4-for-11 from 3. She had 3 assists, four fouls and zero rebounds in front of a robut crowd at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Nalyssa Smith provided back-up firepower for Clark with 13 points while Erica Wheeler and Kelsey Michell pitched in 8 points apiece. The Fever shot 40 percent from three (8-of-20) and 48 percent overall (24-of-50).
But it wasn’t enough against the balanced offense from Connecticut.
Alyssa Thomas had a triple-double effort with 13 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. DeWanna Bonner added 20 points while Tyasha Harris and DiJonai Carrington contribured 16 apiece. Rachel Banham added 10 off the bench.
Clark took the L with the maturity of a veteran.
“Disappointed and nobody likes to lose, that’s how it is. Can’t beat yourself up too much about one game,” she told ESPN.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Fever, though.
Bonner climbed up to No.5 on the WNBA’s career scoring list (6,901 points), moving ahead of former Phoenix Mercury teammate Candice Dupree. who finished her career with 6,895 points.
