In their first preseason matchup against the Washington Mystics on Saturday, the Indiana Fever edged out a 79-74 overtime victory, aided by six crucial free throws in the closing minute of regulation. Caitlin Clark missed that opener due to a leg injury but returned for the next game.
On Sunday, Clark suited up as the Fever took on Brazil’s national women’s basketball team in the second leg of a back-to-back. Rather than a standard WNBA venue, the game took place at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Clark’s alma mater at the University of Iowa where she set the NCAA’s all-time scoring record.
Tickets for Clark’s much-anticipated return went on sale in January and sold out in just 42 minutes. The crowd of 15,000 at CHA paid an average of $650 per ticket, marking the highest average ticket price for a WNBA game since 2015.
Caitlin Clark's first shot in her return to Iowa is a pull-up 3-pointer 🔥pic.twitter.com/uZRTAuhkpt
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) May 4, 2025
The event marked a milestone: the first WNBA game ever held at CHA. Broadcast nationally on ESPN, the Fever vs. Brazil contest was one of only four WNBA preseason games to receive national television coverage this year, setting a new record. Within the game’s opening minute, Clark sank a pull-up three-pointer her first WNBA points at CHA.
This game was also among a record-setting four WNBA preseason matchups hosted on college campuses. Two of those games took place Friday: the Aces vs. Wings at Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion, and Angel Reese’s return to LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center to play Brazil.
The final on-campus preseason game is scheduled for Monday, May 12, when the New York Liberty face Japan’s Toyota Antelopes at Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena, the college home of Sabrina Ionescu. The Fever will wrap up their preseason schedule on Saturday with a road game against the Atlanta Dream, before opening the regular season at home on May 17 against the Chicago Sky.
Be the first to comment