It’s Caitlin Clark against Angel Reese for the fifth time in 2024 when the Indiana Fever travel to Chicago to face the Sky on Friday night.

Both teams are clinging to the final two spots in the WNBA playoffs. Indiana is 15-16 overall and in seventh place, while Chicago is 11-19, one game ahead of the Atlanta Dream for the last spot.

Clark leads the head-to-head series 3-1 this year, counting her victory at Iowa over Reese’s LSU squad in the women’s NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. As professionals, Clark and the Fever have won twice, but the Sky won the last meeting by a point.

Both players have made their mark in the WNBA. Clark leads the league in assists with 8.1 assists per game and set the rookie record for 3-pointers made in a win over the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday night. She has 88 on the season.

Reese leads the WNBA with 12.9 rebounds a game and has 24 straight games with at least 10 rebounds, but the Sky have struggled offensively. Chicago stands 11th in field-goal percentage (42.3) and 10th in 3-point shooting (30.9).

The two also were teammates on Team WNBA when it beat Team USA (Olympic team) in the All-Star Game.

Chicago has dropped five of six games since returning from the Olympic break, including losing a seven-point lead with under five minutes left Wednesday to Washington.

“Growing pains suck,” Sky guard Diamond DeShields said afterward, “But it’s part of the process. We have a real young group, and all we can do is go back to the drawing board and try to learn from it and prep ourselves for the next opportunity to come.”

Sky leading scorer Chennedy Carter (17.2 points per game) missed Wednesday’s game due to health and safety protocols. When asked about Carter’s status for the game against the Fever, Sky coach Theresa Weatherspoon responded, “she should be fine.”

Indiana is 4-1 since the Olympic break and seeking its first playoff spot since 2016. While much of the attention goes to Clark, her teammate Kelsey Mitchell leads the Fever with 18.3 points a game and became the first player in franchise history with five straight games of 20 or more points when she scored 23 in Wednesday’s 84-80 win over the Sun.

“That’s really, really hard to do in this league,” Clark said of Mitchell’s streak. “In my eyes, she’s one of the most underrated players. Every night for her is very consistent. She shows up, she performs. … She’s always somebody I can count on, and it’s been a lot of fun to build our chemistry over the course of this season.”

–Field Level Media