Caitlin Clark's record year of basketball ends in playoff sweep - ESPN

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — As the clock ticked down on her rookie season, Caitlin Clark had one more 3-point heave in her to try to make an improbable comeback happen.

She pulled up from 27 feet, the Indiana Fever down six to the Connecticut Sun with 15 seconds left. The shot clanged off the back of the rim, bounced high in the air, hit the back iron and landed out of bounds.

That would be the last shot of her season, one that ended with an 87-81 loss to the Sun in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs Wednesday night. As the Sun celebrated their win, the Fever huddled briefly on the court. Clark was the first one into the tunnel, her long year of basketball over.

What a year it was: Clark started her senior year at Iowa at this time in 2023, filling raucous arenas from coast to coast while leaving her mark in the school and national record books, and setting television ratings records nearly weekly.

Without much time to reflect, she was chosen No. 1 in the WNBA draft, then took a team that had won 30 games combined over the previous four years to its first playoff berth since 2016. Though Wednesday night most certainly ended in disappointment — especially considering the Fever led with 2:05 left — Clark showed in her dazzling debut season that this is a team that is only just beginning its rise.

«It's a good little taste of what's possible for this organization and for this franchise,» Clark said. «There's a lot for us to hold our heads high about. This team won five games two years ago. We're a young group, a pretty inexperienced group, but we came together and had a lot of fun playing together. Sometimes the worst part of it is like you feel like you're really playing your best basketball, and then it has to end.»

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