Caitlin Clark claims ‘best is yet to come’ as Indiana Fever crash out of WNBA playoffs

The curtain comes down on Caitlin Clark’s debut season in the WNBA as her Indiana Fever team waved goodbye to any championship dreams in Uncasville (Connecticut) losing their second game (87-81) to the Connecticut Sun in the best of three series.

Alyssa Thomas was the star player for the home team hitting 19 points and delivering 13 assists with DeWanna Bonner and Marina Mabrey on hand to sink key late 3-point shots to keep the Fever at bay as the Sun march on to the final four of the playoffs.

Despite being on the losing side, Clark went out in a blaze of glory and shot 25 points and delivered nine assists but it was all in vain as it will be Connecticut who advance and now face second-seeded Minnesota in the best-of-five semifinals.

‘Only scratching the surface’

Speaking to the media post-game, the 22-year-old guard was disappointed but keen to look towards the future as she reflected on record-breaking rookie season in the WNBA.

“I feel like I had a solid year but for me the fun part is I feel like I’m just scratching the surface,” she told press reporters. “I feel like I can continue to get a lot better.”

The Rookie of the Year broke the single-season assists record (337), smashed the rookie scoring record with 769 points and in July became the first WNBA rookie to score a triple double.

“We came together and had a lot of fun playing with one another,” said Clark. “That’s sometimes the worst part of it - it’s like you feel like you’re playing your best basketball and then it has to end.”

Clark media boom

The arrival of the Iowa State player in the league delivered the perfect tonic for the WNBA as television ratings shattered in her wake in her record-breaking final collegiate season with Iowa with seven regular season games delivering more than 1 million viewers - all of them Fever games.

Clark’s first game in a Fever jersey saw more than 2.45 million tune in to see the all-time leading scorer in college basketball participate in her first game as a professional.

Signing off at Wednesday’s press conference in Uncasville, Clark concluded: “I feel like basketball has really consumed my life for a year,” she said. “I feel like taking some time to myself and really enjoying that and reflecting back and, you know, it was special.”