Kate Martin is 1-0 against Caitlin Clark in the WNBA. The reigning back-to-back champion Las Vegas Aces defeated the Indiana Fever on Saturday night in a battle of Iowa teammates.
Martin also bailed on Clark before the game got underway!
Indiana tried to organize a joint press conference with the two rookies prior to tipoff, but Las Vegas’ second round pick chose not to partake. Clark was salty about her friend’s flakiness but continued on to express her glowing thoughts on Martin anyway. Hence the headline for this article.
By the time warmups got underway, bygones were bygones. Clark and Martin were thrilled to see each other on the floor, doing what they had always dreamed about while putting in work with the Hawkeyes!
Of course, the No. 1 pick couldn’t let her best friend go without a little bit of teasing.
Recently retired Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder and her successor Jan Jensen were among those in attendance. They sat courtside for the game like proud parents. It was especially cool when Martin, Clark and veteran Megan Gustafson were all on the floor at the same time.
To see both rookies duking it out in their first matchup against each other was pretty surreal for them, their coaches and their fans. They went at it on both ends of the floor!
Interestingly enough, it was actually Martin who out-scored Clark. She finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and an assist in the 19-point win. Her superstar teammate finished with eight, five and seven in the blowout loss. The whole thing was a bit weird!
Final result aside, all of the fanfare around the reunion made it even more special. Martin and Clark are doing what they set out to do, together.
To make the whole thing even cooler, Kate Martin only attended the WNBA Draft to support Caitlin Clark and ended up hearing her name called. Now she is out-scoring the No. 1 overall pick in a game against her!