Two of the most talked about collegiate women’s basketball players and now WNBA players, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, faced off on Saturday—and the rematch attracted scores of fans to watch them on the larger stage.
Clark and Reese became regular headline makers after Reese made John Cena’s “you can’t see me” hand gesture at Clark as the two faced off in a LSU versus Iowa game last Spring. This time around, it was Clark’s team who won, as the Indiana Fever narrowly beat Reese’s Chicago Sky in a tight game that ended 71-70.
The anticipation for the game was high, following Reese’s “trash talk” to Clark when they were both college players last Spring. The clip of Reese’s gesture inspired plenty of media coverage of both she and Clark, much of which was incendiary towards Reese. The two women ultimately came out of the other side of the kerfuffle much talked about in the mainstream, attracting more fans to women’s basketball and bringing that momentum with them to the WNBA as they were drafted.
Clark defended Reese’s trash talk at the time, and Reese has since clarified that there’s no bad blood between the two players. In anticipation of the rematch this weekend, Reese was once again asked to address the situation in March.
“Me and Caitlin Clark don’t hate each other,” she told ESPN, “It’s just a super-competitive game. Once I get between those lines, there’s no friends. I’m going to talk trash to you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get in your head the whole entire game, but after the game, we can kick it.
One player Clark probably won’t be kicking it with any time soon is the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter, who appeared to say “You bitch,” in television replays of the game and bodychecked Clark, knocking her to the ground during this weekend’s game.
