Caitlin Clark scored 11 points in her WNBA postseason debut on Sunday, well below the Indiana Fever star’s season average of 19.2 points per game.
She made just 24% of her shots and 15% of her three-pointers, which are also well below her season averages of 42% and 34%.
At one point during the third quarter of her team’s 93-69 loss to the Connecticut Sun, Clark slammed her hand on the bench in frustration.
She probably could have avoided the bruise she sustained in the first quarter.
Less than two minutes into the first-round playoff game, Clark was poked near the right eye by Connecticut’s DiJonai Carrington as the newly crowned WNBA Rookie of the Year was passing to teammate Aliyah Boston. Clark ended up doubled over on the ground with her eye stuck, but no foul was called.
Read more: Is Star Rookie Caitlin Clark ‘Dominating’ the WNBA? Sheryl Swoopes Doesn’t Think So
She was left with a bruise on her face, but Clark didn’t use that as an excuse for her poor play.
“I got a pretty good kick out of it. I don’t think it affected me, honestly,” Clark told reporters after the game. “I felt like I had some good shots, but they just weren’t going down. It’s obviously a tough time for something like that to happen.”
She added: “It obviously didn’t feel good when it happened, but it is what it is.”
The contact seemed to be coincidental.
During a game between the two teams in June, Carrington appeared to mock Clark for overselling a bad call. That same week, the fourth-year Sun player appeared to criticize the league’s newcomer on X for saying she doesn’t “give too much time and attention to” people who use her name to promote agendas of racism and misogyny.
Read more: Caitlin Clark on Culture War: Don’t Use ‘My Name to Promote Racism and Misogyny’
Clark is the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer and was the Fever’s top pick in this year’s WNBA draft. She and the team struggled early in the season before hitting their stride after the league’s Olympic break, going 9-5 in the final stretch to clinch the Fever’s first postseason berth since 2016.
While setting a WNBA record with 337 assists this season, Clark also led the league with 5.6 turnovers per game. On Sunday, she had eight assists (about her season average of 8.4 per game) while committing just two turnovers.
“I felt like I fought, tried my best and handled the ball better than I normally do, and that’s positive,” Clark said.
One more loss this week and the season is over for Clark and the Fever. Game 2 is back Wednesday in Uncasville, Conn. If a decisive Game 3 is needed, it will be Friday in Indianapolis.
“We can win,” Clark said. “It’s not about the building. It’s not about the gym. It’s not about the basketball. I have all the confidence in the world in this team, and everybody in the locker room does, and I know we’re going to be much better on Wednesday.”
Read more: Commissioner says WNBA has ‘Bird-Magic moment’ with Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese. Players say they blew it
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
