Former Iowa women’s basketball stars Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin battled in the WNBA for the second time as the Indiana Fever lost at the Las Vegas Aces, 88-69, Tuesday night.
The Aces are now 2-0 in the season series, with the second meeting drawing 20,366 fans to Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, the highest regular season single-game attendance in the WNBA since 1999. Former lowa head coach Lisa Bluder and new head coach Jan Jensen were in attendance and sat courtside once again to watch their former players.
Clark, Martin and former Hawkeye Megan Gustafson also helped make a young lowa fan’s day by working with the Make-a-Wish Foundation to sign memorabilia before the game.
Here’s how Clark and Martin fared in their second matchup:
Caitlin Clark stats in Indiana Fever vs. Las Vegas AcesClark finished with 13 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, one steal and six turnovers on 4-for-12 shooting and 1-of-7 from deep. She was a minus-19 in 38 minutes as the Fever got dominated in the second and fourth quarters, 20-13 and 23-10, respectively.The outing marked Clark’s second straight off-shooting night and the fewest points she’s scored in her last seven games. Still, it was an improved performance compared to Clark’s first matchup against Las Vegas where she scored eight points, seven assists and five rebounds on May 25.
Her passing, however, continued to shine and is one reason she was named a WNBA All-Star in her debut season. Clark has now dished out double-digit assists in three of her last four outings after not reaching that threshold in any of her first 17 career contests./ In 21 games this season, Clark is averaging 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.3 steals.
Kate Martin stats in Indiana Fever vs. Las Vegas Aces/ Martin played just 11 minutes and only recorded one rebound and one turnover. She was a plus-3 but made little impact on the game overall. It was the fourth time Martin has gone scoreless this season and the third occurrence in her last seven outings.
After averaging 20.3 minutes through her first nine career games, Martin’s role has seemingly diminished for the defending champions recently. She’s averaging just 9.0 minutes with a high of six points in her last seven games.