Heat is off Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever after getting their 1st win of the WNBA season

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The heat is off Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. The WNBA rookie sensation and her team won their first game of the season.

The Fever rallied from 11 points down in the first half to beat Los Angeles 78-73 and snap a five-game skid on Friday night in front a Sparks home record crowd of 19,103 at Crypto.com Arena.

Clark had 11 points and 10 rebounds for her first WNBA double-double. She hit two clutch 3-pointers in the final minutes after missing her first seven attempts from long range. She had eight assists and just two turnovers.

The relief was evident on Clark’s face at the buzzer. She smiled as she made her way across the court to greet actor and fellow Iowan Ashton Kutcher, his wife Mila Kunis, and their children. Among the crowd were fans in gold Iowa shirts.

“Nights like tonight just remind me of why I love playing basketball and why I started playing basketball,” she said. “You get a win and you walk off the floor and there’s so many young kids just screaming your name and love getting to watch you.”

The start of her pro career has been rough for Clark, whose every move was already scrutinized while becoming college basketball’s career scoring leader for men and women at Iowa. The attention and pressure ramped up when the Fever chose her No. 1 in the WNBA draft.

“It’s definitely been a whirlwind,” she said. “I feel like I talk to the media more than I get to talk to my own family which is really kind of sad in a way. It’s a lot for somebody that’s 22 years old. It can be tough at times. Our team is really young. It’s difficult navigating this.”