Caitlin Clark's impact on girls basketball in the Hoosier State (2024)

INDIANAPOLIS – The news from Iowa has the state of Indiana atwitter. Yes, Caitlin Clark is entering the WNBA draft, and yes, the Indiana Fever own the No. 1 pick and they’ll make their choice as fast as they can fill out the card. The smiles stretch from the coaching offices to the ticket department. But let’s check in on a different constituency, to get an idea of the seismic wave that is Caitlin Clark.

Don’t ask the adults. Ask the kids.

Welcome to the Indiana girls high school state basketball finals; a collection of teenage girls who can tell you all about Clark, even if her home Iowa Hawkeye games are far off in another time zone.

Meet Jiselle Chabes, a junior guard for Class A runner-up Marquette Catholic. She keeps a pamphlet about Clark next to her bed. Iowa might be two states over, but her impact has easily stretched here. “It affected the way I look at basketball because she has a great saltiness to her, she’s pretty salty when she’s out there, she has like this chip on her shoulder, and she’s a great shooter,” Chabes is saying, “So when I work in the gym I want to be like her with my shot.

“I think it’s affected all of us. Sometimes we’ll be at practice and someone will shoot a 3 and it’ll be like . . . Clark!”

Her teammate Marissa Pleasant helped the Marquette Catholic cause in the championship game with three early 3-pointers. Another Clark aficionado. “She’s an idol for sure. Me being a 3-point shooter, I want to be like her. I work hard in the gym, I put up my shots to be like her. I think she’s really inspirational. She shows a lot of younger student-athletes that if you work hard, it will pay off."

“I think it showed us what our future looks like.“

Not long ago, the Marquette Catholic Blazers had a team event that everyone loved. They headed for West Lafayette to see the Purdue women play . . . against Iowa. Though they share a state with Purdue, there were not many Boilermaker fans on the roster that night.

Lanesville defeated Marquette Catholic for the title and here’s guard Hadley Croshier, the Eagles' top player who missed much of the championship game with a knee injury: “Just watching Caitlin Clark, I think it motivates not only me, but a lot of other players. The way she can just pull up and shoot and make it, it’s insane, it’s really insane,” she said. “The amount of time in the gym and the amount of technique and what that takes, it’s a lot.

“She can have a bad game and she has a triple-double.”

✍🏼 CAITLIN CLARK TRACKER: Follow the Iowa star's biggest games

But how can one college player 350 miles away carry such weight with the girls of Indiana? Brownstown Central’s Harley Toppe, the team’s leading scorer, has had a tough Class 2A title game, going 2-for-15 from beyond the 3-point arc. “I love shooting 3s, as you saw in that game. Just seeing her practice and practice and making her 3s makes me want to do it, too. I’ve watched her pretty much since her freshman year. I just think the energy she brings and all the confidence she has in herself has really helped young girls see that and want to have confidence in themselves.”

Back home in Brownstown, there are Caitlin Clark sports apparel items in Harley Toppe’s closet.

Fort Wayne Bishop Luers beat Brownstown Central in the title game, so it has been a great week for Luers guard Reese Rhodehamel. Well, except for one thing. She had tickets to the Indiana-Iowa women’s game but couldn’t go because she was a little busy, practicing for the state finals.

“That was tough because I was so excited,” she said. “I was trying to make it work. I was like, well, if we practice earlier Thursday I can go from practice. But I knew I had to be there. I think my grandma went. I definitely want to see her so my dad said he’s looking for more tickets.”

Like all the young girls who have packed the stands at Iowa games this season, Rhodehamel has wanted to see her champion in person. “I idolize Caitlin Clark. I love the way she plays. I can definitely see her mentality through the way she plays basketball,” she said. “She’s really intense and into it and I feel like that’s affected the way I play, When I watch her and she does something crazy or makes a big shot, I want to do that. That really sends a message to a lot of teenage girls. And when you hear about things that she’s doing off the court, giving back to the community, when she’s putting in time at the gym it just inspires me to want to be a better player.

“I’ve actually wanted to order a Caitlin Clark poster. I was going to order it a couple of weeks ago for my birthday.”

Then things got a little busy with the Knights’ march to the state, but Rhodehamel vowed that is high on her to-do list. So while Fort Wayne is a long way from Iowa City, Clark‘s feats have often been a topic in the Luers locker room. “I don’t think anybody on the team doesn’t like her,” Rhodehamel said. “It’s hard not to like her.”

Finally, here are Ally Malone and Chloey Graham, two young ladies with freshly cut championship nets hanging around their necks. They have just led Gibson Southern to the Class 3A title, and Clark was part of their journey.

“I think just seeing her succeed gives people so much for the girl's program,” Malone said. “She just knows she has the ability to go out and do something great. She always rises up to the challenge.”

Same for Graham. “Being so good, like such a good shooter and having so much confidence in herself, you don’t see that in a lot of women’s sports. The guys get all the attention.”

Not the past week in Indiana, where the girls who play the game of basketball had had a special bonus to go with their championship game experiences. Caitlin Clark is coming to town.