Caitlin Clark has no interest in rehashing Indiana’s physical, testy win against Connecticut when she was shoved to the floor by Marina Mabrey.
Mabrey’s hit on Clark in Tuesday night’s game was upgraded to a Flagrant 2 on Wednesday.
“I think Steph (Fever coach Stephanie White) talked about it plenty after the last game and it is what it is, you move on,” Clark said Thursday before playing the Golden State Valkyries in her first visit to San Francisco. “My focus is just on tonight.”
Jacy Sheldon poked Clark in the eye in the third quarter and the Fever star cringed while grabbing at her face. Sheldon then chest bumped her before Clark pushed back and Mabrey got involved by bumping Clark to the floor.
A sellout crowd has been anticipating Clark’s stop in the Bay Area with the game circled on the calendar for the expansion team from the day the schedule was released. It comes two days after the Fever’s 88-71 home win against the Sun, featuring three late ejections and further discipline.
Clark has been studying Stephen Curry from afar and taking notice of how the Warriors superstar deals with swarming, physical defenses and regular double teams — much like what Clark sees every night.
Part of it, she said, has been a commitment to getting stronger. She increased her weightlifting regimen coming into her second WNBA season.
Clark realizes she will face a top defender and her share of hits with all the attention on her.
“Steph is somebody I’ve watched and watched a lot of film [of],” she said. “I try to watch as many Warriors games as I can just because I love the way he plays and there’s so much I can learn from him. But I think when you look at Steph and something I remember from the first time I actually watched him in person is how strong he is physically. He’s built, he really is. I think that also kind of showed me going into Year 2 is how much time I really needed to put into the weight room to be able to play at this level of physicality and also not get tired through the course of a game.”
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase planned to put a body on Clark at every chance to make things tougher on her, even from way out. Clark is averaging 21.3 points and 8.7 assists while shooting 40% from 3-point range.
“Obviously you’ve got to pick her up higher, she shoots from the logo so you can’t pick her up at the logo just because again that’s a super comfortable shot,” Nakase said. “It’s almost like a layup to her. You’ll see her going to her left so we’ve just got to be aware.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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