Locals reflect on newest member of Indiana Fever

May 9—Back in January, the Western High School girls basketball team traveled to West Lafayette to watch Purdue women's basketball team play Iowa.

After the game, Western's coaches and players had an opportunity to walk onto the Mackey Arena floor and take a few moments to just enjoy the atmosphere.

That's when freshman Ella Rawlings looked over and saw Caitlin Clark, Iowa's guard and now the all-time leading scorer for men and women's Division I basketball, still standing on the floor a few feet away.

So Rawlings took off in that direction.

"Ella was just so excited," Rawlings' head coach Misty Oliver said of that night. "She just wanted to go meet Caitlin. Everyone did."

Rawlings and Clark didn't actually meet that night, but it shows the impact the Iowa athlete — and now one of the newest members of the Indiana Fever — has had on people.

And when Clark and the Fever tip off Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for their first home game (preseason) against the Atlanta Dream, there's little doubt thousands of girls and young women just like Rawlings will be tuning in.

Earlier this month, the Tribune went in search of why so many people have fallen in love with this 22-year-old guard who makes 30-feet three-point shots look easy.

The answer was pretty standard across the board.

There's just no one else like her.

"It's been a long time coming," Oliver told the Tribune as her team conducted spring practice last week. "We've had women in the game that have been superstars and have stood out, but she has taken the women's game to the next level."

And it's not just little girls who are paying attention to Clark's game, either.

"It's the little boys, too," Oliver said. "You know, I've never seen that before. It just goes to show the transforming our game is doing because of her, you know? The interest is there for the little boys. And even with that, it's not just the little boys either. I work with guys at work that never talked about women's basketball. But now, women's basketball is the topic of conversation. It's great to see that."

Oliver added she believes there are a couple factors that have led to Clark's recent spike in popularity: shooting ability and swag.

"Let's be honest, when she walks into the gym, she's in range," Oliver said with a laugh. "You haven't seen a woman do that in our game yet. And I think the way she plays the game, the chip on her shoulder, the attitude, that all plays a role in the attention she attracts.

"The kid sees the floor like nobody's business," Oliver continued, "but she also scores in the process. She just makes people around her better."

And Oliver herself knows a little bit about what it's like to be in that spotlight, albeit perhaps on a little smaller scale.

In the early 1990s, Oliver was part of the Kokomo Lady Kats girls' basketball team that won back-to-back state championships while also being ranked the No. 1 women's high school basketball team in the nation by USA Today.

Oliver said she remembers little kids coming up to her on the street and asking for her autograph, a humbling experience, she noted.

"When you're doing it, it doesn't seem like it's real," she said, recalling her Lady Kats days. "But as you look back on it, we really did bring women's basketball to the forefront here in Howard County, for sure. ... But that was a Lady Kats' effect. It wasn't just one of us. Clark is just one person, so I can't imagine the pressure she feels, to essentially be carrying the women's game on her shoulders like that."

JC Barnett III, owner of the JC Barnett School of Jump Shooting here in Kokomo, agreed with Oliver.

"She's just a phenom," Barnett said. "She's an incredible basketball player. But not only that, she carries herself well."

Like Oliver, Barnett also said he feels like Clark represents the future of women's sports, particularly when it comes to basketball.

"I see people like her continuing to be the trend," he said. "The direction of women's basketball is going to continue to grow and develop long-range shooters, and she's about as long as they come. It just takes two or three pioneers to establish something like that, and then it just takes off for everyone else.

"And the very first thing that pops into my mind is that I can see my daughters' faces," Barnett added. "They are enthusiastic about sports. I don't know to what extent, but I see them watching Caitlin and the game of women's basketball. And when my girls have that opportunity to watch and see, I know that they will look up to people like Caitlin and know they can do amazing things themselves."

So, Barnett noted, it's surreal to have a player like Clark playing home games just an hour away.

"I just told my son, and my daughters will be present as well, we're going to go watch Caitlin Clark," Barnett said. "There's no ifs, ands or buts about that. We're going to go watch multiple games and be ready to cheer her on. Not that I wasn't before, because I've always been a hometown rooter. ... But now we're going to especially be Fever fans."

Because in the end, Oliver noted, that's how you continue to grow women's sports for the next generation of female athletes.

"I think what people like Caitlin are doing is just bringing back the love of the game," she said. "It's putting women's sports in the forefront. It's showing that, if you work hard, there's opportunities there. I think the more numbers that we get into women's sports or girls' sports around here, that's going to create more places for them to play and ultimately level the playing field."

Now, young athletes like Rawlings can reach for their dreams, too.

"I think she (Clark) is just inspiring a lot of girls," Rawlings told the Tribune. "She's made us realize how far we've come and that the sky's the limit."