Everything Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers Said After Epic Battle Between WNBA No. 1 Picks

Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers broke things down Friday night following their strong individual performances in the Indiana Fever's 98-87 win over the Dallas Wings.

Clark and Bueckers had matching point totals of 29 in the contest, and although Dallas led by three entering the fourth quarter, the game was turned on its head in the final frame when the Fever outscored the Wings 35-21.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Clark praised her Fever team for battling all game long and then breaking through in the fourth, saying, "We really kind of just pushed through and pushed through and pushed through. It felt like we were just like waiting for the moment to unleash, and I felt like that's what we kind of got in the fourth quarter."

Clark also complimented Bueckers play before applauding the Fever's defensive effort against her and the Wings as a whole in the fourth quarter.

"Paige is a tremendous player," Clark said. "She takes what the defense gives her. She doesn't force anything. She's smooth. She finds the open teammate. So she's just a really tough guard. ... With really good players, you've got to throw a lot of different things at them. They're going to make tough shots, and you live with some of them. Then I thought in the fourth quarter, we did a tremendous job of kind of taking her out of things."

As for Bueckers, she expressed disappointment over the fact that the Wings allowed the game to get away from them in the fourth quarter, telling reporters, "In the fourth quarter, they just laid it on us. They played more physical, they wanted it more, and that's unacceptable as a team. We have to string together 40 minutes. We don't think being down people is an excuse."

Clark finished with a 29-point, 10-assist double-double on 11-of-18 shooting, while adding three rebounds, one steal and only one turnover.

Bueckers was nearly as good with her 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting to go along with six assists, six rebounds, two steals and two turnovers.

Regardless of the result, Clark and Bueckers showed why their teams made them the No. 1 overall picks in the 2024 and 2025 WNBA drafts, respectively.

As both Clark and Bueckers alluded to, the fourth quarter made all the difference on Saturday, as Indiana's smothering defense held Bueckers to only four points in the frame.

With Saturday's win, the Fever improved to 22-12 on the season, and they maintained their status as one of the hottest teams in the WNBA, winning their third game in a row and eight of their past 10.

As for the Wings, they fell to 20-15, and they have now lost four of their past five games and six of their past eight.

Entering play Sunday, the Fever are fourth in the WNBA standings, while the Wings are now eighth.

The teams won't have to wait long for their next meeting, as Bueckers and the Wings are scheduled to host Clark and the Fever on Thursday.