The 2023 LSU-Iowa national championship game helped sparked interest in women’s basketball

The WNBA’s main storyline for most of the 2024 season was the budding rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

Both players were selected in the first round of the draft – Clark to the Indiana Fever and Reese to the Chicago Sky.

Both players vied for the 2024 WNBA Rooke of the Year Award.

Ultimately, Clark helped the Fever to the playoffs and a 20-win season, which gave her a better case for the award while Reese suffered a season-ending wrist injury.

Still, the two young stars transcended sports, and it started during the 2023 women’s basketball national championship between Reese’s LSU and Clark’s Iowa.

Reese’s taunt toward Clark sparked the rivalry, which only grew further after Iowa topped LSU in the tournament last season.

“My life literally just changed from that game,” Reese told WSJ Magazine in a recent interview.

As she looked back on the moment, she recognized what it did for the women’s game.

“It’s just a full-circle moment of how women are viewed when it comes to trash-talking,” she told the outlet

. “It’s OK in men’s sports. We’re going to normalize that in women’s sports as well. So it’s just super-competitive.

I think we’re two great competitors.

“We brought a lot of fans to this league,” she said of her and Clark’s WNBA rookie season “And I think we’re going to continue to do that.

For now, the two will take the offseason to regroup.

Reese is set to play in the 3-on-3 Unrivaled basketball league while Clark has her sights set on a golf pro-am next month.