The Indiana Fever got Caitlin Clark back in the lineup on Wednesday, and she had a heartfelt moment with one of her former teammates before the Fever took on the Golden State Valkyries. Former Iowa star Kate Martin has become one of the standouts in Golden State during its first season in the WNBA, and she and Clark shared a nice moment before the game.
During the game, photographer Bri Lewerke captured a nice moment of the two together, which both of them got a chance to see and comment on.
Clark commented five hearts, while Martin wrote, “I love her!”
While the two are great friends who go back to their time at Iowa together, leading the Hawkeyes on a pair of runs to the National Championship Game, there are no friends between the whistles in the WNBA. Despite playing in a hostile road environment with a fired up Fever crowd excited to see Clark back on the court, the Valkyries continued to play great basketball en route to an 80-61 victory.
Martin had a quiet night for Golden State, scoring just five points on 2-of-7 shooting. Veronica Burton was the star for the black and purple, scoring a game-high 21 win the victory.
Clark was clearly a little hesitant and rusty coming off of a groin injury that kept her out of the lineup for five games, scoring just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting in 25 minutes. She has also spent time on the sidelines with a quad injury this season, so it has been a bit of a stop and star campaign for the second-year star.
Still, getting to see and play against Martin will certainly give Clark a boost as she gets back into the lineup and gets comfortable on the floor just before the All-Star break. The Fever need Clark to be at her best quickly, as this loss dropped them below .500 at 9-10 in a very crowded playoff race in the WNBA.
On the other side, the Valkyries continue to be the surprise team of the season and are now 10-9 after pulling the upset on the road. In just their first year as an expansion franchise, Natalie Nakase has Golden State playing very hard and producing great team basketball, which has helped them be very competitive long before anyone thought they would be.
