In the 2023 women's college basketball national championship, LSU's Angel Reese defeated Iowa's Caitlin Clark and the former gave the latter a taste of her own medicine.
Clark spoke about the in-game rivalry between the two players and lamented that it became all everyone would talk about for days instead of the two lifting the game. Clark's comments were made in the ESPN documentary series “Full Court Press.”
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LSU forward Angel Reese gestures to Iowa guard Caitlin Clark after the final round of the NCAA women's Final Four tournament at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on April 2, 2023. (Kevin Jairaj-USA Today Sports)
“That's the only thing people wanted to talk about when we did this magical race and brought so many people together, and that was frustrating to me,” Clark said in one episode, via The Daily Mail.
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder also criticized the media for trying to “create a circus out of racial issues.”
Clark and Reese persisted at the time and throughout the 2023-24 season there was no animosity between them.
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Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark handles the ball during the Atlanta Dream game on May 9, 2024 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
“Caitlin Clark and I don't hate each other. I want everyone to understand that. It's just a super competitive game,” Reese said before the two met in the Elite Eight in April. “Once I get between those lines, there are no friends. I have a lot of friends on the court that I talk to outside of the game, but when I get between those lines, we're not friends. We're not friends. I'm going to talk down to you. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get in your head throughout the game, but after the game we can kick it.”
Clark added that the two shared the same “competitive fire.”
“Angel and I have always been great competitors,” he said. “Obviously, she played in the Big Ten for a while to start her career, and that's what makes women's basketball so fun: You have great competition, and that's what we've had all year. I think Angel I would say the same.”
LSU Lady's Angel Reese reacts to Iowa's Caitlin Clark during the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center on April 2, 2023 in Dallas. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
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Now, Clark and Reese are preparing to make their WNBA regular season debuts. Clark was the number one overall pick by the Indiana Fever, while Reese was selected by the Chicago Sky a little later in the first round.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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