Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese didn’t need long to reignite their bitter rivalry after going at it on the court during a fiery WNBA season opener.
Emotions ran high between the two women’s basketball stars when Reese reacted to Clark’s intense foul with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter as the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky launched their 2025 seasons.
After Reese grabbed an offensive rebound, Clark slapped the Sky forward across the arm, knocking the ball away and her arch-nemesis to the floor.
Angel, who was visibly furious, quickly jumped up and confronted Caitlin as Fever center Aliyah Boston jumped in between the two players.
After reviewing the play, the officials elevated the foul to a flagrant one and issued double technical fouls to both Boston and Reese. This marked Clark’s third personal foul.
In an in-game interview with ESPN, the current WNBA Rookie of the Year stated there was ‘nothing malicious’ about the incident, describing it as simply a basketball move.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese went at it in a fiery moment during their WNBA season opener
‘It´s just a good take foul,’ Clark said. ‘You know, either Angel gets a wide open two points, or we send them to the free-throw line.
‘Nothing malicious about it. It’s just a good take foul. Every basketball player knows that.’
Reese agreed with Clark’s assessment in her postgame press conference, while telling people to ‘move on’ from the incident in a blunt eight-word response.
When asked for her thoughts on the foul, she simply said: ‘Basketball play, refs got it right, move on.’
When Reese missed the first of two throws, Gainbridge Fieldhouse erupted in cheers. She made the second, though, and Chicago added a layup on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit to 56-45.
Clark had 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and a career-high tying three blocks in the first half. Reese had seven points and nine rebounds through the first two quarters.
In the end it was Caitlin and the Fever who had the last laugh on Saturday as they cruised past the Sky 93-58 to open their account in style.
After Reese made one of two free throws and Courtney Vandersloot made a layup on the ensuing possession, Indiana closed the third quarter on a 9-0 run to take a crucial 65-45 lead. The Sky never really threatened to stage a comeback in the fourth.
It goes down as the largest opening win in franchise history for Indiana.
Reese was left furious after being shoved to the floor by Clark midway through the third quarter
The Fever star insisted her push on Angel was not ‘malicious’ and just a ‘basketball play’
Reese was visibly furious after the shove before leaping back to her feet and going for Clark
Clark recorded her third career triple-double in the victory after putting up a game-high 20 points, along with 10 rebounds and as many assists.
Reese, meanwhile, recorded 17 rebounds, 12 points and an assist as Chicago slumped to an opening-day defeat.
The fierce enemies have brought their rivalry from the college ranks with them into the big leagues, having famously clashed on the court during LSU and Iowa’s NCAA Championship game in 2023.
In a memorable moment, Reese performed Clark’s trademark ‘You Can’t See Me’ celebration right in her face as she helped LSU claim victory on the night.
Last season they also went head-to-head for the coveted WNBA Rookie of the Year award, with the Indiana sensation ultimately coming out on top.
However, their competitiveness turned ugly when Chicago player Chennedy Carter brutally shoved Caitlin to the ground at one stage in the 2024 campaign, before Angel appeared to walk away laughing with her teammate about it afterwards.
Clark and Reese’s rivalry goes back to the college ranks, when the latter performed her arch-nemesis’ trademark celebration to her face in the 2023 NCAA Championship game
They have since brought it to the big leagues after both enjoying strong rookie seasons in 2025
Clark and Reese were at the center of what many claimed was a WNBA ‘race war’ last year
A number of analysts claimed the frenzy surrounding Clark and Reese had turned into a race war, yet they managed to brush all that aside and play together in last year’s WNBA All-Star Game.
Elsewhere in Saturday’s game, Boston added 19 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks, while Natasha Howard scored 15 points in her Fever debut.
DeWanna Bonner also scored seven points to move into third on the WNBA’s career scoring last, passing Tina Thompson. Bonner now has 7,289 points.
New Fever coach Stephanie White earned the first win of her second coaching tenure in her first game back in the state where she won Indiana’s 1994-95 Miss Basketball Award and led Purdue to the 1998-99 national championship.
