Caitlin Clark scores first career points in the WNBA on driving layup
Former Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark has her first points in the WNBA, scoring on a driving layup in a game against the Connecticut Sun. It took a bit, but she finally broke through.
Clark started 0-for-4 from the floor, frustrated a little bit by the Sun’s defense and foul trouble in the opening stanza.
That would only last so long, of course. With about five and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter, Clark got the ball on the right side of the floor and cut to the baseline, reaching up for a layup and scoring.
Check it out below.
It’ll be interesting to see if Clark heats up as the game goes on, because she’s certainly capable of scoring in bunches when she’s firing on all cylinders.
In fact, Vegas even expected something of a breakout debut for Clark with some of the prop bets it set for the contest.
Caitlin Clark Prop Bets vs Sun
Points
Over 21.5 (+100)
Under 21.5 (-130)
Assists
Over 7.5 (+120)
Under 7.5 (-160)
Made Three-Pointers
Over 3.5 (-180)
Under 3.5 (+134)
During her four seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes, Clark averaged 28.4 points per game, which peaked during her senior season with 31.6 ppg. Thanks to her sharpshooting, she became the collegiate men’s and women’s all-time leading scorer in her 130th career game.
Sun sellout arena for season opener vs Fever
On Monday ahead of the WNBA’s opening tipoff, the Connecticut Sun announced a sellout for game one against the Indiana Fever starring first-overall draft pick Caitlin Clark. The Sun sold out Mohegan Sun Arena’s 8,910 seats for the Tuesday night game.
According to the host team, the 8,910-ticket sell-out is their first since the Sun’s inaugural game at Mohegan Sun Arena in 2003 against the Los Angeles Sparks. In the days leading up to the matchup, the ticket prices to see the Indiana Fever’s season opener against the Connecticut Sun rocketed sky-high.
Clark’s debut is an obvious factor driving up the ticket prices with the average price for a seat at the Mohegan Sun sitting around $300. The lowest price available for a re-sale ticket on TicketMaster was $127 in the week leading up to the game. Even more eye-popping, court-side seats ranged from $1,300 to $4,900. The going price for a typical Connecticut Sun home game is $45.
Luckily, fans of the Fever, the Sun or Caitlin Clark who don’t want to pay such high prices have the opportunity to stream the game next Tuesday. ESPN announced last week that the WNBA tip-off game will stream live on the Disney+ platform. The games will also be available on ESPN+ and ESPN2.
This will be the first time that Disney+ will stream live sports. It did have experimental streams with the NFL and NHL, in which it used technology to stream games live, but with animated characters instead of real-life athletes. The hope is Clark and the Fever will bring in maximum eyeballs to Disney+. The news came after Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company would add an ESPN title to Disney+ later this year, with selected live games available at no charge.
On3’s Nikki Chavanelle also contributed to this report.