Bad blood that started in the women’s NCAA Tournament continues to linger

Angel Webb Reese, the mother of Chicago Sky forward and former LSU standout Angel Reese, was not impressed after Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever sold out Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a preseason game against Brazil.

Clark’s Hawkeyes and Reese’s Tigers met twice in the women’s NCAA Tournament, including LSU’s 102-85 romp in the 2022-23 national championship game. The rivalry has lingered since, coming to another head over the weekend after Reese lashed out at Clark following a flagrant foul.

“Aww that certain fan base looking in the stands celebrating ‘attendance’ while others are looking up in the rafters celebrating championship banners,” Reese’s mother wrote prior to Saturday’s season opener. “We ain’t the same. Different year same haters Have a great day.”

Twice Clark finished NCAA Tournament runner-up as Iowa’s top star and college basketball’s all-time leading scorer while the Tigers hung a banner under Reese’s leadership and coach Kim Mulkey.
More than 15,000 fans crowded Clark’s collegiate home venue to see the WNBA’s reigning rookie of the year in action prior to her sophomore season debut that ended with a triple-double and win over Reese’s squad.That matchup between Clark and Reese in the 2022 national championship game sparked a heated rivalry both players have downplayed publicly, but seems to always bubble up when the Fever and Sky go head to head.

During a 71-70 Fever win over the Sky last season, Reese went in-depth about a physical contest that included Clark being shoulder-checked to the floor by Chennedy Carter resulting in a Flagrant 1.
“It all started from the national championship game and I’ve been dealing with this for two years now,” Reese said, via WGN9 News. “Understanding, yeah, negative things have probably been said about me, but honestly, look where women’s basketball is? People are talking about women’s basketball that you never would think would talk about women’s basketball. People are pulling up to games, we’ve got celebrities are coming to games, sold-out arenas …  just because of one single game.”Just looking at that, I’ll take that role. I’ll take the bad guy role. I’ll continue to take that on for my teammates. I know I’ll go down in history and I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person and I want y’all to realize that.”

During Saturday’s win over the Sky, Clark chopped Reese’s arm on a driving layup attempt to block her path to the basket at the 4:38 mark, pushing her to the floor. Reese immediately leaped to her feet, began screaming at Clark and Indiana’s Aliyah Boston stepped in between the two while tempers flared.
Clark’s foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1 upon video review. Reese and Clark were asked about the foul in the aftermath, the latest chapter in the pair’s public feud.”Basketball play. Refs got it right. Move on,” Reese said before dismissing a follow-up question about the play.

Clark, who finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists while blocking a career-high four shots, was a bit more descriptive in her assessment.
“It’s just a good take foul. Either Angel gets (a) wide-open two points or we send them to the free throw line,” Clark told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “Nothing malicious about it. Every basketball player knows that.”