Brazil vs. Indiana Fever: Caitlin Clark returns to Iowa and does what no one’s done before

Caitlin Clark made her much-anticipated return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, delivering a historic performance in front of a sold-out crowd as the Indiana Fever faced Brazil’s national women’s team in a preseason matchup.
Clark, who missed Indiana’s preseason opener against the Washington Mystics due to a leg injury, suited up for the second game of the back-to-back. The game was held at her alma mater, where she became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer during her four seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Tickets for the event sold out in just 42 minutes when they went on sale in January. The average resale price hit $650, the highest for any WNBA game since 2015, with 15,000 fans packing the arena to witness the first WNBA game ever played at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Just 30 seconds into the game, Clark hit a pull-up three-pointer from the top of the arc, scoring the first WNBA points ever recorded at the arena.

The Fever’s matchup with Brazil was one of only four WNBA preseason games to be nationally televised this year, airing on ESPN, another first for the league. It also marked one of four preseason games played on a college campus this year, a new record. The others included Las Vegas vs. Dallas at Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion and Chicago vs. Brazil at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The final on-campus preseason game will take place May 12, when the New York Liberty face Japan’s Toyota Antelopes at Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena, home of former Ducks star Sabrina Ionescu.
The Fever previously edged out the Mystics 79–74 in overtime on Saturday, thanks to six clutch free throws in the final minute, a game Clark sat out due to injury.
Clark and the Fever will play their final preseason game on Saturday against the Atlanta Dream. Their regular season opens May 17, when they host the Chicago Sky.