The third installment of “Mean Girls” premiers today at noon on ESPN.

There were two “Mean Girls” movies – the good one in 2004 with Lindsey Lohan as the nice girl/home-schooled Cady Heron and Rachel McAdams as the consummate high school “It” girl and head title namesake Regina George and the forgettable reboot this year.

From left, stars of the 2004 movie “Mean Girls” Lindsay Lohan, who played Cady Herron, Lacey Chabert, who played Gretchen Weiners, and Rachel McAdams, who played Regina George. Lohan is in the Caitlin Clark role, and McAdams is Angel Reese for our story here. (Getty Images).

And there have been two college “Mean Girls” match-ups on the basketball court between America’s Sweetheart Caitlin Clark as Cady and villain Angel Reese as Regina, sort of.

The third one and their first WNBA meeting between Clark and the Indiana Fever and Reese and the Chicago Sky will be at high noon today on ESPN national television from a packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Clark and Iowa won the latest matchup over Reese and LSU in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight back in April to reach the Final Four. Clark scored 41 points with seven rebounds, 12 assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Reese played great, too, scoring 17 points with 20 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.

Iowa star Caitlin Clark ignores taunts from LSU’s Angel Reese after the Hawkeyes lost the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game to the Tigers, 102-85, on April 2, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. (Getty Images)

Reese won the first one in the 2023 national championship game in Dallas, 102-85, in true “Mean Girls” fashion. She taunted Clark in the final seconds of the game by holding her championship ring finger to her face and continued for several seconds after the game.

Reese might as well have just said, “You can’t sit here,” as Chabert’s Gretchen character said to Lohan’s Heron in the movie.

In every college baseball, football and basketball national championship I’ve ever seen and every final of the World Series, Super Bowl and NBA Playoffs, the champions immediately go to their teammates to celebrate. Not Angel, or not Regina, though.

“Honestly, I had no idea,” Clark said of the invisible ring bling by Reese in an interview for ESPN’s “Full Court Press” documentary series recently. “I was just trying to get to the handshake line and be grateful that my team was in that position. But that’s the only thing people wanted to talk about when we just went on this magical run and united so many people, and that, like, was frustrating to me.”

The two did make nice at the WNBA Draft weekend in New York City last April as Clark was the first pick of the draft by Indiana with Reese going No. 7 overall to Chicago.

Chicago Sky power forward Angel Reese is No. 9 in the WNBA in rebounding with 8.2 a game. (Getty Images)

“I don’t think people realize it’s not personal,” Reese said in a recent interview. “Once we get out between those lines, if I see you walking down the street, it’s like, ‘Hey, girl, what’s up? Let’s hang out.’ I think people just take it like we hate each other. Me and Caitlin Clark don’t hate each other. I want everybody to understand that. It’s just a super-competitive game. Once I get between those lines, there are no friends. I’m going to talk trash to you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get in your head the whole entire game, but after the game, we can kick it.”

Clark – the all-time career NCAA scoring leader in men’s and womens’ history – routinely does her share of taunting as well, particularly after she makes a patented, long 3-pointer. And she currently leads the WNBA in 3-pointers with 24. But she usually makes general taunts during the game – not to one player after a game.

Angel Reese Takes “The Villain Role”

“That’s fine. I’ll take the villain role,” Reese said. “I’ll take the hit for it, but I know we’re growing women’s basketball. If this is the way we’re going to do it, then this is the way we’re going to do it. You either like it or you don’t.”

So far, the fans like it. Clark has set attendance and TV ratings records with virtually every stop.

“There’s definitely that competitive fire,” Clark said. “Both of us want to win more than anything, and that’s how it should be when you’re a competitor and you get into a situation like this. I think that’s the main similarity – how competitive we are. We both grew up loving this game, and we’re going to do anything we can to help our teams win.”

So far, the 6-foot-0 Clark is having the better season statistically as she is much more versatile and faster than Reese and plays point guard – the quarterback on the court. The 6-foot-3 Reese is an inside player at forward who does not run the floor well. But Clark’s team is 1-8 on the season, while Reese’s team is 3-3.

Clark is 13th in the WNBA in scoring with 17.6 points a game, which leads all rookies. Reese is 40th with 11 points a game. Clark is also No. 4 in assists with 6.6 a game to Reese’s 48th spot with 2.0 a game and No. 6 in free throw percentage at 89.4 to Reese’s 66.7 Reese is ninth in the WNBA in rebounding with 8.2 a game, but Clark rebounds well for a guard with 5.1 a game for 30th.

Clark is also 12th in blocked shots with 1.1 a game. Reese is not in the blocked shot stats.

It should be noted that Lindsay Lohan’s Cady Heron does get “meaner” as the movie goes on, and Clark is not always Miss Nice Girl. She tends to lose her temper and draw technical fouls, and her father even told her during a game at Iowa to stop complaining to the officials and play.