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Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark’ s interactions are a subplot of the women’s Fiba World Cup, the WNBA season and if you spend enough time on social media, a divided United States. Clark and Reese have shown their relationship on the court is thriving, and they both excelled in USA’s 108-56 quarter-final win over Hungary on Thursday.
In Thursday’s game, the growing chemistry showed. The pair had a nifty pick-and-roll to end the first quarter that ended with a layup by Reese. The Atlanta Dream forward returned the favor hitting Clark on a fastbreak for an easy lay-up later in the game.
“She’s got it for me a lot of times so it’s probably finally due for me to get one to her and she easily finished it,” Reese said smiling.
Napheesa Collier was USA’s top-scorer with 19 points, Clark delivered nine assists and added 10 points, while Reese had six rebounds and nine points in a dominant quarter-final performance. The Americans, who are chasing a fifth consecutive World Cup title, will face either Spain or Australia in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Clark and Reese are intense and animated competitors, and their fan bases’ are fiercely loyal. On much of social media fans are either for Reese or for Clark. But the pair have bonded so far at the World Cup. Clark said many of the stories about their relationship are “false takes,” saying she loves the fiery competitiveness that she and Reese share.
“No matter what, there’s always going to be people that create those narratives and say whatever they want to say,” Clark said. “There’s definitely no stopping that and they’re always going to be there. I think for ourselves, like I said, it’s easy for us to just come in here and compete.”
Reese has enjoyed playing with Clark as well as the other young members of the roster, including Paige Bueckers and Aliyah Boston.
“We know each other’s game like the back of each other’s hand, she knows my spots,” Reese said of Clark. “We just continue to build chemistry because we know we’re going to be USA teammates for a while.”
Clark laughed recalling one incident in the tournament between she and Reese that has gotten some attention. When Clark was subbing in during the opener against China and started to step on the court before being officially told to, Reese, who was entering the game at the same time, pulled her back off the court.
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“Well, the ref had gotten mad at me a couple of times prior, so she was saving me from the ref getting mad at me again,” Clark said, laughing.
The pair will be back on opposite sides soon enough – Reese’s Atlanta Dream and Clark’s Indiana Fever are headed for the WNBA playoffs and both have 26-14 records. They could meet in the first round if the current seeds hold.
