Hoops superstar Caitlin Clark has scored her first WNBA win with the Indiana Fever beating the Los Angeles Sparks and breaking a five-game losing streak.
Actor Ashton Kutcher was courtside to give Clark a high-five after she finally landed a three-point attempt.
The Fever conquered the Sparks 78-73 in a sold-out Friday night game at Crypto.com Arena, with Clark coming through in the clutch with a final blow: a three-point shot with 40 seconds left in play, giving her team a 76-71 lead.
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Kutcher, also an Iowa native, was among the packed crowd of 19,103 fans cheering on the WNBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick.
“That’s a fellow Hawkeye, somebody that’s been very supportive of me over the course of my college career,” Clark told the AP. “He was encouraging me the whole game.”
After the victory, Kutcher and his wife, fellow That ’70s Show actress Mila Kunis, and their two children embraced the 22-year-old player who’s risen to the top of American sports. Their daughter cried after meeting her, in a moment captured by a USA Today scribe.
They weren’t the only celebs watching the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer.
Ted Lasso actor Jason Sudeikis—who followed Clark’s NCAA career and in April, hugged her at the Iowa Hawkeyes game that clinched their spot in the Final Four—was there for the magic, as were comedians Rosie O’Donnell and Kathy Griffin.
“The crowd was absolutely amazing,” Clark said, “especially there at the end. They were into it, they were invested.”
Clark was facing off against other WNBA star rookies, the Sparks’ No. 2 pick Cameron Brink and fourth selection Rickea Jackson, and finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists after struggling to find her footing in the first half.
Her underwhelming WNBA debut had brought an avalanche of criticism from social media critics and league peers who called her a bust, leading basketball legend LeBron James to defend the rookie and offer her some sage advice: “Put your blinders on.”
“Go to work, show up to work, punch your clock in, prepare yourself, work on your game, work on your craft,” James added on his podcast.
After her fourth-quarter triumph on Friday, Clark told the press, “The first one feels really good.”
