Everything Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Said After Latest Rivalry Game, Reviewing Box-Score Stats

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese both sounded off Thursday following Atlanta's 108-101 road victory.

Both Clark and Reese enjoyed strong performances, as they led their respective teams in scoring:

Player	PTS	FG	REB	AST
Caitlin Clark	26	8-17	2	7
Angel Reese	21	8-14	11	1

Clark's game-high 26 points weren't enough to lift the Fever, though, as the Dream never relinquished the nine-point lead they took into halftime.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Reese noted that she and her teammates challenged themselves to keep up the intensity and maintain their advantage during the second half:

"We kind of talked a little bit at halftime about not getting comfortable," Reese said. "I think we kind of stayed together and continued to push. We knew they were going to go on a run, especially with their crowd. When their crowd gets into it, I think they feel that energy, and they did a great job with that. But I think we continued to contain ourselves. I think we all collectively did a great job."

Reese called it a "collective win," noting that everybody "did their job" en route to victory.

As for Clark, she provided some answers regarding why she felt the Fever were unable to close the gap and mount a comeback after a rough first half:

"I think in transition they got easy ones. Fast-break points 17, so probably that right there contributed to it," Clark said. "Points off turnovers, I thought a lot of times that's probably on us guards getting to the ball a little better so we don't have to rotate. We're gonna have to rotate at some point, and we kind of went back to our old ways where that second rotation we didn't get, and they scored off the 90-[degree] cuts and the 45-[degree] cuts. ... Essentially everybody on their team shot over 50 percent, and it's really hard to win a basketball game when that's the case."

To Clark's point, the Dream shot 54 percent from the field as a team. Indiana actually shot the ball better at 56 percent, including 47 percent from beyond the arc, but Atlanta had only 12 turnovers to Indiana's 17, and the Dream won the rebounding battle 30-25.

Reese was huge on the glass, leading all players with 11 rebounds, and she was also among Atlanta's most efficient scorers, making eight of her 14 field-goal attempts.

With the win, Atlanta improved to 10-4 on the season, which is good for second place in the Eastern Conference and fourth overall in the league.

Meanwhile, the Fever fell to 9-6, placing them third in the East and seventh in the WNBA.

Given how close they are in the standings, it seems likely that the Dream and Fever will be jockeying for position all season long, placing even more importance on the results of their head-to-head matchups.

They have split two meetings thus far, and they still have two to go, including a showdown in Atlanta on Saturday.