When Olivia Tanke first saw Caitlin Clark play in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the WNBA superstar was still in college, having not yet gone on her back-to-back tournament runs with the Iowa women’s basketball team.

On Sunday, Olivia was once again given the opportunity to watch Clark, though not in the Black and Gold. Instead, she got the pleasure of watching Clark’s professional team, the Indiana Fever, take on the Brazil national team in a highly anticipated preseason contest.

Though the game was the second the Fever played, it was Clark’s first outing of the 2025 season, a leg injury having kept her out of the Fever’s debut against the Washington Mystics — a contest in which the Fever scraped out a 74-79 overtime win.

“I liked watching Caitlin make all those threes,” Olivia said, remarking on the star’s ability to shoot from several feet behind the three-point arc.

Clark made several three-point shots in the game against Brazil, including one from just beyond her own number 22 logo with seconds waning in the third quarter.

The moment likely caused deja-vu for many Hawkeye fans, who remember watching her drain a similar-looking shot when she broke the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record in her senior season at Iowa.

As soon as Clark made the basket on Sunday, the arena erupted into cheers, with fans jumping to their feet and filling Carver with a deafening roar. Clark played up the moment, a huge smile spreading across her face.

“I knew coming into the game, everyone wanted to see me shoot one from there,” Clark said after the game. “I had to give the fans a little something.”

When Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White was questioned in a postgame press conference about Clark’s shot, she immediately defended the Fever star.

“It’s what she does,” White said. “Nobody tells Steph Curry not to take good shots.”

It’s true; Taking three-point shots from several feet beyond the arc is part of what makes Clark so appealing to young fans of the game.

“She’s the whole reason we come,” Olivia’s mother, Breanne Tanke, said. “I think she’s a great role model for my kids. They love her.  [Olivia and I] were Iowa fans and now are Fever fans because of her.”

Tanke and Olivia are not the only fans who joined the Fever’s flock upon Clark’s arrival. Last season, the Fever’s total home attendance of 340,715 marked a single season record for any WNBA team, surpassing the previous record of 250,565 set by the New York Liberty in 2001.

“The young girls and young boys screaming my name to sign their stuff … I don’t take that for granted, that is so cool,” Clark said in a press conference postgame.

Upon the conclusion of the game, which the Fever won, 108-44, dozens of young fans gathered near the railings that overlook the tunnel leading out to the locker rooms. Many of them held handmade posters or Clark gear they brought to the game, hoping to catch the star guard’s attention as she left the arena.

“That’s what I appreciate about [fans] the most. They want to cheer, not only for myself, but everybody else on this team. They have so much fun watching us,” Clark said in a post from the Indiana Fever’s official X, formerly known as Twitter, account.

She wasn’t wrong.

The moment the first Fever players took the floor, the arena erupted into a chorus of claps and cheers, with many young fans lifting hand-made signs into the air proclaiming their love for No. 22. But Clark wasn’t the only player to receive her laurels from the Iowa crowd.

When the starting lineups were announced, guard Kelsey Mitchell and forward Aliyah Boston both walked in to an overwhelmingly positive reception, as did new additions Natasha Howard and DeWanna Bonner.

The Fever’s game against Brazil is one of four preseason games to be played in college arenas, allowing WNBA stars to return to the courts where they first gained followings. Other sites that have WNBA games on their schedule include Notre Dame, LSU, and Oregon.

This trend began last year at South Carolina University, when star Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson traveled to her alma mater, and continues to bring in new fans to the increasingly popular WNBA league.

Logan Barron, one of Clark’s young fans, entered Carver on Sunday for only the second time, following a game early in the Iowa women’s basketball team’s 2025 season. Though Logan got to see many of Clark’s old Iowa teammates during that game, she never saw Clark herself play until Sunday.

RELATED: Indiana Fever bests Brazilian National Team as Caitlin Clark returns to Iowa City

At one point during the game, Cedar Rapids natives Logan and her mother Taylor Barron, left the roar and excitement of the Fever faithful to search through the racks of Fever jerseys and other merchandise set up around the arena.

“[Logan] is just trying to find anything that fits,” Taylor said.

While she and Logan were looking around at various dark blue Fever jerseys and yellow Hawkeye-clad hats, Logan spent her time dribbling a small black and gold basketball and mimicking the movements of Clark and her teammates.

One of Logan’s favorite memories from the game was the mascot race between Herky the Hawk and Freddy Fever. During the race, Herky and Freddy had to dribble a basketball down the court and make a shot from each end of the floor.

Freddy ended up winning the race by making a three-point shot. After his win, he stood and gestured toward the crowd, calling forth some claps, despite an anguished loss from Herky, who collapsed to the floor in despair.

“I liked seeing Herky down on the court,” Logan said. “And it was silly when the mascots went and threw the ball.”

Both mascots moved around the stands throughout the game, introducing themselves to and snapping pictures with any fans they encountered.

“I also loved it when Caitlin made that three right away,” Logan said.

The first three of Clark’s eventual 16 points came 32 seconds into the first quarter when she hit a shot from the top of the arc, marking the first points of the game.

After an impressive showing from the entire Fever roster, many fans are now looking to the future. After the game, ESPN reporter Holly Rowe got the opportunity to talk with Clark on the floor of the arena.

When asked about the Fever’s ceiling for the coming season, the Hawkeye star had only a few words to say.

“Yeah, a championship,” Clark said. “That’s why I’m here.”