Raucous Crowd Roars Its Approval For Caitlin Clark In Her Home Debut With Fever, An 83-80 Win

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark walked into her new home arena Thursday night with No. 22 shirts and jerseys peppered from floor to ceiling.

She left as a first-time WNBA winner.

A late-arriving but louder-than-usual crowd roared during her official introduction to Fever fans and again when Clark made her first basket, a layup with 7:00 left in the first quarter. The cheers grew when she completed a three-point play a few minutes later and hit a crescendo when she finally made a long 3-pointer from the edge of the fieldhouse logo late in the third quarter.

Yes, Clark successfully navigated the city’s most anticipated rookie debut since Peyton Manning played for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts in 1998 even though it wasn’t quite the start most expected.

In an 83-80 preseason victory over the Atlanta Dream, Clark had 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six turnovers, going 4 of 12 from the field and 2 of 9 on 3s in 31 minutes.

“It was a lot of fun, I thought they were loud, I thought they were into it. It was fun to see,” Clark said following her home debut. “This is a preseason game on a Thursday night and there’s 13,000 people here. I think that just shows you what it’s going to be like for us all season. It’s going to help us.”

The crowd certainly made a difference Thursday as Clark helped the Fever rally from an early double-digit deficit following last week’s preseason opening loss at Dallas.

One girl held a sign that read “Welcome to Indy Caitlin! — Caitlin M.”

Officially, the attendance came in at 13,028 — nearly three times larger than the slightly more than 4,000 per game Indiana averaged for its 20 regular-season home games in 2023. Afterward, Clark found close friend and former college teammate Gabbie