The L.A. Sparks Tuesday will get a rematch against WNBA phenomenon Caitlin Clark when they travel to Indianapolis to face the Indiana Fever for the second time in five days.
Tuesday’s game comes after the Fever defeated the Sparks 78-73 on Friday night in front of a capacity crowd of 19,103 at Crypto.com Arena — the largest home crowd in the Sparks’ 28-season history.
That game also marked the rookie Clark’s first win in six WNBA games. The former Iowa standout scored six of her 11 points in the final 2 minutes, 27 seconds on two 3-point shots.
Clark made 4 of 14 shots Friday, including 2 of 9 3-point shots, missing nine consecutive shots from the second through fourth quarters. After making a 33-foot pullup 3-point shot with 2 minutes, 27 seconds to play to end the streak, she gave actor Ashton Kutcher, who was sitting courtside, what she described as “a little high five.”
Clark called Kutcher, who attended the University of Iowa, but did not graduate “somebody that been very supportive of me.”
“He was encouraging me the whole game so it was fun to have him courtside,” Clark said.
The two-time John Wooden Award winner as college basketball’s best female player had a game-high 10 rebounds and a team-high eight assists Friday.
Both teams have played once since Friday and lost — Indiana to the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, 99-80, on Saturday, with Clark scoring eight points on 2-of-8 shooting with a game-high equaling seven assists, and the Sparks, 84-83, to the Dallas Wings on Sunday, with Sparks guard Lexie Brown making a 3-point basket with 1.5 seconds left to make the game closer.
Only the 0-6 Washington Mystics have a worse record in the 12-team league than either the 1-6 Fever or 1-4 Sparks, whose only victory came over the Mystics.
The Sparks will be without starting guard Layshia Clarendon, who is in the concussion protocol after suffering a head injury Sunday.
The 4 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time game will be televised by NBA TV.