Caitlin Clark performs savage gesture in front of college foe as old rivalries renewed after game-winner

Caitlin Clark has ice in her veins.

The WNBA star drained a game-winning three-pointer to give the Indiana Fever a 78-76 win over the Washington Mystics on the road.

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Having been in somewhat of a shooting slump of late, Clark came up clutch when her team needed her most, and finished with a game-high 19 points, in which she shot 40 percent from distance, to go with three rebounds, five assists and a steal.

Her Fever teammates were expectedly pumped with the win, and former No. 1 overall WNBA Draft pick Aliyah Boston had no doubts whatsoever that Clark would knock the winning shot down.

“I mean are we surprised? Caitlin Clark is Caitlin Clark, and she does that,” Boston said postgame. “It was a great shot. She’s a shooter and you can’t leave her that open.”

Similarly, Fever head coach Stephanie White – who has been at the center of a media storm alongside Clark over the last few weeks – spoke out about just the level of talent she has on her team in the 24-year-old.

“I think sometimes we take great players, and certainly generational talent, for granted,” White said. “What she did was incredible for us. She’s going to have many more moments like that. I know she is. And we needed this one tonight.”

With the noise around Indiana’s leading talisman louder than ever, White doesn’t think Clark’s heroics will be enough to quieten it down any time soon.

“I don’t know that the noise is ever going to be quiet,” White said. “This is what Caitlin does. She makes big shots, and she has big moments.”

The Fever have now gone above .500 with a 6-5 record on the season.

Clark’s college rivalry reignited

But it was *that* last-ditch shot from 31 feet with 1.2 seconds on the clock which has dominated the headlines.

This is because after she nailed the shot, a slightly stoic-looking Clark proceeded to throw her hands up – in which she had three fingers up on each hand – and looked in the direction of Mystics guard Cotie McMahon.

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“You better make this,” Clark said when asked what she was thinking at the time. “Because I missed my free throws. All those plays are plays we work on after practice, so everybody knows their role, everybody knows what they’re going to do.

“Cotie almost got a fingertip on it,” Clark added. “It kind of worked out perfectly that she went for the steal.

“Honestly probably the most wide-open shot I had all night. My hands got a little clammy, but still went in, I guess.”

Those who followed Clark back in her collegiate days at Iowa will know that she and McMahon had somewhat of a fierce rivalry due to her playing for the Hawkeyes’ Big Ten rivals, Ohio State.

It all stems back to a game between the two teams back in 2024, when after an Iowa win, Clark took an Ohio State t-shirt that was part of a fan giveaway.

A photo of her repping the t-shirt went viral and angered Buckeyes fans, including McMahon, who a year later when Ohio State defeated Iowa – Clark was no longer on the team – called out the disrespect from the opposition in an apparent dig.

“So we take that personal, I take that personal. I like to fight on the court, I’ve got that dawg in me, so I go out there and prove it.”

With McMahon having been drafted by Washington with the 11th overall pick of the 2026 draft, the rivalry has now translated into the WNBA and been renewed.

This could be a battle that could get tense over the next few years.

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