Caitlin Clark’s rookie season ends with Fever’s loss to Sun

Caitlin Clark’s historic rookie season ended Wednesday as the Indiana Fever lost 87-81 to the Connecticut Sun, losing their first-round playoff series 0-2.

Clark scored 25 points in the loss, adding six rebounds and nine assists. She played all 40 minutes, shooting 10-of-23 from the field, including 3-of-12 from 3.

Alyssa Thomas led the Sun with 19 points.

Clark hit a stepback 3 to give the Fever a 71-70 lead with four minutes left, but she was held scoreless for the rest of the game. Connecticut finished the game on a 17-10 run.

The Sun will play either the Minnesota Lynx or the Phoenix Mercury in the next round — their sixth straight trip to the semifinals.

It was an eventful game for Clark beyond what she did on the court.

In the first quarter, she asked security to deal with a rowdy fan.

She also had an exchange with Connecticut forward DeWanna Bonner.

Indiana’s elimination brings to an end a stunning run by Clark. She averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game and was named first team All-WNBA, helping lead the Fever to their first postseason berth since 2016. Clark also won Rookie of the Year in a unanimous vote.

Her 337 assists in the regular season were not only a rookie record, but also the WNBA record for assists in a season. She became the first rookie to record a triple-double, and she set the record for most 3s by a rookie in a single season, as well.

On July 17, Clark recorded 19 assists in a loss to the Dallas Wings, a single-game WNBA record.

Clark also had an outsized impact on the league off the court.

By midseason, she had the best-selling jersey in the league, while Fever jersey sales had increased by over 1,000%.

More than 640,000 fans watched the Fever in person this season, according to Across the Timeline, the most for any team in WNBA history. The average attendance at Indiana games was 88% higher than at every other game, according to The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Game 1 between the Fever and the Sun averaged 1.8 million viewers, making it the most-watched WNBA playoff game since 2000. Television ratings for Clark’s games were nearly 200% better compared to all others, according to Michael Mulvihill, an executive at Fox.

After her final collegiate game in April, Clark’s professional career began the next month in May. Her coming offseason will be her first extended break since after her junior year with the Iowa Hawkeyes.