WNBA Draft Creates Indiana-Chicago Rivalry With Caitlin Clark Vs. Angel Reese

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Get your tickets now!

The Indiana Fever and first overall WNBA Draft pick Caitlin Clark of Iowa will host the Chicago Sky and No. 7 pick Angel Reese of LSU at 1 p.m. on June 1 in Indianapolis - only three hours from the Windy City.

Indiana and Clark, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball history, open their season on Friday, May 3 at the Dallas Wings with the home opener set for May 10 in Indy against the Atlanta Dream.

"You've got to buy your tickets now," Clark said just after being the first pick on ESPN. "It's going to be a hot ticket."

RELATED: Caitlin Clark Breaks Pete Maravich Record

Clark, a 6-foot point guard from Des Moines, Iowa, broke the NCAA career scoring record this past season held by LSU's Pistol Pete Maravich since 1970, routinely sold out home and away arenas all season, and became the first WNBA draftee to be dressed by Prada on Monday night.

Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark waves to the crowd at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York on Monday night before being the first pick of the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever. (Getty Images)

"Just trying to soak it in," Clark said. "I'm grateful more than anything. I told my mom I earned it. That's why I'm so proud of it."

Chicago traded up one spot from No. 8 with the Minnesota Lynx to get the No. 7 selection of the first round to pick Reese, a 6-foot-2 versatile forward from LSU. The Lynx then took 6-2 Utah forward Alissa Pill.

Reese will combine with 6-7 center Kamilla Cardoso of national champion South Carolina. Chicago took Cardoso with the third pick of the draft after the Los Angeles Sparks selected 6-4 center Cameron Brink of Stanford at No. 2. Clark and Cardoso also have a rivalry, adding spice to Indiana-Chicago.

RELATED: Historic NCAA Women's Final Beats Men's In TV Ratings

Clark and Iowa upset No. 1 and 36-0 South Carolina in a Final Four semifinal in 2023. South Carolina then beat Iowa for the national title a week ago Sunday in a game that was the most watched in women's basketball history with 18.9 million viewers on ABC. The final also beat the men's final last Monday night by four million viewers.

LSU forward Angel Reese became the seventh pick of the first round of the WNBA Draft Monday night by the Chicago Sky. (Getty Images)

"I'm just so excited," Reese said. "I get to play with Kamilla. I've played against her since high school. Being able to see my name. A kid from Baltimore's not supposed to be here."

Clark and Reese are friendly. They toured New York City together with other prospective first round picks this weekend.

Angel Reese (left) and Caitlin Clark visited the Empire State Building on Monday afternoon with other prospective first round picks in the WNBA Draft Monday night. (Getty Images)

But a rivalry was born last season when Reese led LSU to a national championship victory over Iowa and Clark in Dallas. As the final seconds ticked away and for several seconds after the horn, Reese held up her ring finger destined for the national championship ring near Clark's face.

Clark got her revenge this season as she led Iowa to an easy win over LSU in the Elite Eight in Albany, N.Y., to reach the Final Four in Cleveland. Iowa then beat Connecticut before falling to South Carolina in the final.

Angel Reese celebrates LSU's national title in front of Iowa's Caitlin Clark as the 2023 national championship game ended in Dallas. (Getty Images)

"I just want to work," Reese said.

Rest Of The WNBA First Round

The rest of the first round saw the Los Angeles Sparks take Tennessee's Rickea Jackson with the fourth pick, followed by the Dallas Wings picking Ohio State's Jacy Sheldon at No. 5, the Washington Mystics selecting Connecticut's Aaliyah Edwards at No. 6, Dallas picking Carla Leite of France at No. 9, the Connecticut Sun grabbing Leila Lacan of France at No. 10, the New York Liberty picking Ole Miss' Marquesha Davis at No. 11, and the Atlanta Dream closed the first round by taking Australia's Nyadiew Puoch at No. 12.

When Clark was just a little girl known as Ponytail Pete after Maravich, she wrote as one of her goals to be picked in the first round of the WNBA Draft.

"I just had a belief in myself," she said. "My parents instilled a confidence in me at a young age."

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Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.