It was a busy opening weekend for the WNBA with record breaking performances and ratings as the league’s stars shined.
The game between Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky drew an average of 2.7 million viewers, which made it the most watched WNBA game on ESPN platforms. Clark posted a triple-double while Reese had 12 points and 17 rebounds in the blowout loss for Chicago.
The pair also had a moment on the court when Clark had a hard foul on Reese while she was going for a layup that ended up being a flagrant 1 when it was upgraded by the officials. Both players after the game said that it was just a basketball play.
A day after the game, the league said it was looking into racial comments made towards Reese by fans. A person familiar with the situation confirmed the details to The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league had not publicly identified the subject of the taunts or who made the allegations.
Indiana said it would do what it could to help the league.
“I told the team, obviously, we’re going to cooperate fully with the investigation,” Fever coach Stephanie White said Monday. “But there’s no place for that in our league, whether it’s at home, whether it’s on the road. It doesn’t matter. We want to encourage our players, our staff to bring recognition to it in real time if it’s heard, if it’s seen or anything of that nature.”
The two teams will meet again on June 7 in Chicago.
It wasn’t just the Chicago-Indiana game that drew strong numbers. The opener Saturday between Las Vegas and New York had an average of 1.3 million viewers. Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson had a stellar performance in the loss. Last season’s runner-up for MVP also had a strong opening weekend as Napheesa Collier led Minnesota to two victories.
While Indiana, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Minnesota were expected to be in the WNBA spotlight this season, not much was expected of Washington with a new coach, new general manager and a whole host of new players, led by rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen.
The Mystics won their first two games and now head out for a three-game west coast trip in Golden State, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
Sidelined
Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper underwent an arthroscopy on her left knee last week and will be out four-to-six weeks, the team announced. Copper is playing in her ninth season in the league and was the WNBA’s third leading scorer last year averaging 21.1 points a game in her first season in Phoenix.
Power poll rankings
Minnesota and New York led the way in the first regular season AP power poll tied at No. 1. The national voting panel chose Indiana third and Phoenix fourth. Las Vegas, Washington and Los Angeles were the next three. Seattle, Atlanta and Dallas followed. Chicago, Connecticut and Golden State rounded out the rankings.
Player of the week
Napheesa Collier had a strong opening weekend, averaging 28.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists to help the Lynx win their first two games, both on the road. Other players receiving consideration included Caitlin Clark of Indiana, Natasha Cloud of New York, Kelsey Plum of Los Angeles and Brittney Sykes of Washington.
Game of the week
New York at Indiana, Saturday. The defending champion Liberty will visit Clark and the new-look Fever. Indiana made a ton of offseason moves to bolster their roster, including signing DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard. It will be a chance for the team to see where it stacks up against one of the best teams in the league early in the season.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
