UNCASVILLE, Conn. — With the clock ticking on her rookie season, Caitlin Clark attempted one more 3-pointer in an attempt to spark an improbable comeback.

It came from 27 feet, the Indiana Fever trailing the Connecticut Sun by six feet with 15 seconds left. The shot clattered off the back of the rim, bounced high into the air, struck the back iron and landed out of bounds.

That would be the last chance of her season, one that ended with an 87-81 loss to the Sun in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs Wednesday night. As the Sun celebrated their victory, the Fever briefly gathered on the court. Clark was the first to enter the tunnel, her long year of basketball over.

What a year it’s been: Clark begins her senior year at Iowa in 2023, packing raucous arenas from coast to coast, making her mark on the school and national record books, and breaking ratings records on a near-weekly basis.

Without much time to think, she was the first overall pick in the WNBA draft and led a team that had won a combined 30 games over the previous four years to its first playoff berth since 2016. While Wednesday night certainly ended in disappointment — especially considering the Fever led with 2:05 left in the game — Clark showed in her stunning debut season that this is a team just beginning to gain momentum.

“It’s a good taste of what’s possible for this organization and for this franchise,” Clark said. “There’s a lot to hold our heads high about. This team won five games two years ago. We’re a young group, a pretty inexperienced group, but we came together and had a lot of fun together. Sometimes the worst part is when you feel like you’re really playing your best basketball, and then it has to stop.”

When the Fever drafted Clark, her presence alone raised expectations. But after an 1-8 start, a playoff run seemed impossible. It may have taken a while for the Fever to find their groove, but they did, behind Clark, Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and a blazing fast offense that quickly became much harder to stop.

Clark eventually set WNBA regular-season records for assists in a season (337), points scored or assisted in a season (1,520), points by a rookie (769) and 3-point field goals made by a rookie (122). Her ability to not only shoot but also find her open teammates was on full display in the first two games of the playoffs. On Wednesday night, she scored or assisted on 45 points, the most by a rookie in a playoff game in WNBA history.

That she did this after playing an entire college season, which ended with a loss in the national championship game to South Carolina on April 7, is a testament to her natural talent.

But as Clark said after the game, “The cool thing is I feel like I’m just getting started and I’m nitpicking everything I do. I know I want to make this franchise better, I want to make my teammates better and I know there’s a lot of room to continue to improve. That’s what excites me the most. I feel like I can get a lot better and before we know it, we’ll all be back here and ready for next year.”

Fever coach Christie Sides sees all that potential in her own locker room, too. The team will have some decisions to make — general manager Lin Dunn said the team has already begun contract talks with Mitchell. Meanwhile, NaLyssa Smith’s future also appears uncertain; Temi Fagbenle replaced her in the starting lineup in Game 2.

But with Boston and Clark — back-to-back No. 1 picks — forming the team’s young core, there’s a solid foundation for the future. Dunn spoke of a three-year plan to get the Fever back to the playoffs when she returned to the franchise in February 2022.

The new plan?

“The next timeline is to play for championships,” Dunn said. “That’s why I loved working for Pacer Sports and Entertainment and the Fever. We all wanted to win. We all wanted to bring great people to this franchise with a dedication to do what we had to do to be competitive every night. We expect this franchise to compete for championships.”

There may be some history on their side, too. The three previous WNBA franchises to have back-to-back No. 1 picks won a WNBA championship within four years. Not that anyone’s counting.

As Sides put it, “We definitely have the ingredients to have some great years ahead of us.”

What made Sides even more proud of her team was that it had to fight more than a rocky start this season. Clark has been in the spotlight for years, but her addition to the WNBA has led to more personal attacks in various forms, from social media to in-person harassment.

Clark even got into a fight with a fan in the first quarter and complained to officials. Although it was unclear what the fan said, security pulled him off the floor and spoke to him before allowing him back to his seat.

Earlier this week, social media was abuzz with speculation about whether DiJonai Carrington intentionally poked Clark in the eye, leaving a bruise. Both players denied it was intentional, but that didn’t stop it from becoming a topic of conversation. In fact, the Sun posted a fingernail emoji on social media after their win. Of course, this isn’t the first time this has happened. Any interaction between Clark and other players that turns physical is dissected to death.

Clark did not respond to the microscope that has been trained on her in recent years, but Sides defended her players after the game.

“There’s a lot of hurtful, hateful talk that’s not acceptable,” Sides said. “This is basketball, and this is their job, and they’re doing the best they can. And when it gets personal, there’s no reason for it to be personal. These guys have to listen and watch — social media is their life. That’s just what they do. And they have to read and watch this stuff all the time, and just all these stories that are made up of what people see or think they see. It’s just not acceptable when it gets personal.”

Maybe now that the season is over, there’s time for some reflection. As Clark said, “I feel like basketball has consumed my life for a year. So I think it’s good for me to look back on everything that’s happened.”

She has no plans to pick up a basketball in the coming weeks. But you might find her on a golf course in Indiana until the weather cools down.

“I’m going to be a professional golfer,” Clark said with a laugh.

“Not too much,” Boston said. “Keep it to basketball.”