‘This is now a Lexie Hull fan account’: Caitlin Clark praises Central Valley grad after career game against Storm

Caitlin Clark is the biggest draw in women’s basketball, bring sellout crowds and TV rating records wherever she goes. That doesn’t mean she’s always the center of attention.

Sometimes even superstars can play the part of a fan.

Central Valley High graduate Lexie Hull stepped into the limelight with a scintillating performance off the bench for the Indiana Fever Sunday, scoring 22 points in 21 minutes during a 92-75 win over the Seattle Storm at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Hull’s family was seated courtside to take in the career-high scoring burst. On the court, Clark was all smiles seeing her teammate reach her potential.

“To get a win in front of everyone is great, to get a win in front of my grandma, who came all the way from Spokane … and my sister (Lacie, another CV standout and teammate at Stanford), who came all the way from Austin and to have them courtside was super cool too. Really good feeling tonight,” Hull said.

After the game Clark made a post on X, saying: “This is now a Lexie Hull fan account.”

Clark joked about the post while seated next to Hull at the postgame news conference.

“Yeah, so my account will fully be about Lexie, if you want to follow,” Clark said, after having an excellent outing of her own with 23 points and nine assists, setting the rookie record for assists in a season. ” I’m going to change the bio to Lexie Hull fan page.”

Clark and Hull have appeared to become good friends during their first season together. In team social media posts they can be seen joking with each other and the two attended a country music concert during the Olympic break.

That connection, as well as with the rest of the Fever, translates to the court. The team had 10 assists in the fourth quarter, where Hull hit four of her 3-pointers and the Fever outscored the Storm 33-17 to pull away.

“It’s really fun to watch when you have Caitlin running in transition,” Hull said. “The ball can go anywhere and anyone can knock it down. Our offense is just so fluid … that’s something we’ve definitely improved on this year.”

The Fever (13-15) are markedly improved over Hull’s first two seasons, where the team finished last in the Eastern Conference both years. Sunday’s win over the Storm (17-10) saw them match last year’s win total with 12 games to play.

The Fever have also taken off since a sluggish 1-8 stretch to start the season. Indiana is 12-7 since June 1 and climbed to seventh in the league standings, firmly in playoff position. The Fever have not made the playoffs since 2016.

As for Hull, she’s been inconsistent in her third year, with career-lows in field goal percentage (26.7), 3-point percentage (18.6) and minutes (12.8), leading to slightly lesser counting stats since last season.

However, Hull seems to have turned things around. She’s had a spike in minutes the last seven games (20.9) and is making her shots count. She’s made 17 of 38 attempts from the field (45%) and 10 of 22 3-pointers (45%).

“It’s been some tough games not making those open (shots),” Hull said. “You just have to keep shooting and trust the work I put in.”