CHICAGO — With 43.4 seconds left and the clock stopped after a foul, Angel Reese walked by herself toward the faraway Chicago Sky basket, smiling and clapping with that familiar look on her face.
Forget Vogue and the Met Gala, this was a proper runway.
After two losses to the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis, Reese and the Sky were in the lead, in control, and Reese knew it.
While the remaining basketball after that moment was, to put it nicely, a little frenzied, Reese and the Sky held on for an 88-87 victory over Caitlin Clark and the Fever on Sunday at a raucous, packed Wintrust Arena.
Round 3 goes to Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky.
During the week leading up to the game, Sky forward Marina Mabrey told a few of us that if this really were a rivalry, she hoped it would be billed as “Sky-Fever” and not “Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese.” Mabrey knew the drama was good for the league but didn’t think the two highly scrutinized rookies needed that extra weight.
But let’s be real: Clark and Reese are inexorably linked after their college battles. After two Clark wins in the WNBA portion of this personal series, it was Reese who came out on top in a nationally televised ESPN game, and she needed it.
Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are inexorably linked. (Melissa…
