Friday’s game between the Indiana Fever and Washington Mystics will be a family reunion of sorts. When the two teams meet to play in Washington, it’ll be the first meeting between sisters Katie Lou Samuelson (Fever) and Karlie Samuelson (Mystics) in three years.

The last time the Samuelson sisters faced off was in 2021 when Katie Lou (then a member of the Seattle Storm) and Karlie (then a member of the Los Angeles Sparks) started against each other twice in July that year. Karlie was released by the Sparks in August 2021, and she was picked up by Seattle, where she and Katie Lou played three games together near the end of the season.

Both sisters have bounced around the WNBA. Since being drafted fourth overall out of UConn in 2019, Katie Lou has played for a different team in all five of her seasons in the league. Karlie went undrafted out of Stanford in 2017, and the Mystics are her fifth team since getting her WNBA start in 2018.

Last year was Karlie’s most stable year in the league, she played 34 games (starting 23) for the Sparks while averaging a career-high 7.7 points per game and shooting 42.6% on 3s. In the meantime, Katie Lou didn’t play in 2023 as she was welcoming a new member to the family in her daughter Aliya. Now that Katie Lou’s back on the court and Karlie’s found her footing in the WNBA, Friday’s game signifies a lot for the Samuelsons.

“Karlie and I are both in a place in our career where this is a really special moment for us, and I’m just excited to see her,” Katie Lou said after Indiana’s practice on Thursday.

Karlie has started every game for Washington this year while Katie Lou has started five of Indiana’s 11 games. The sisters have been speaking this week leading up to the game, and Katie Lou recalls having mixed emotions about playing Karlie in the past.

“It’s just a weird feeling after playing her so much, being on her team,” Katie Lou said. “Whenever we match up against each other, it just has that weird feeling to it. But it’s always good, always competitive, we both want to win.”

The two played together for a season at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., but they also played against each other a lot growing up. At a certain point, their dad, Jon — who played basketball at Cal State Fullerton and professionally in England — had to step in.

“We played one-on-one always growing up,” Katie Lou said. “And almost always it ended in a fight somehow or another, one of us fouling each other too hard. So my dad would always have to just call the game. We weren’t ever allowed to keep score, we weren’t allowed to go to certain points, because we would just get so angry and frustrated.”

When Katie Lou (26) and Karlie (29)  train together in the offseason now, it’s a much more pleasant and uplifting experience. Those moments are about getting better rather than trying to take down the fellow sister.

While the Samuelsons are foes in between the 50-feet wide, 94-feet long court, they’ve relied on each other throughout their WNBA paths off the floor. Katie Lou said the two talk daily, and they offer perspective on how they’re performing.

“I talk to her after every single game,” Katie Lou claimed. “We both talk about our games, what we saw. Just having that person that’s in there, experiencing it is really nice. Especially someone on the outside of your actual team. It’s nice to be able to fully count on her and break down the game with her.”

Katie Lou and Karlie will meet on the court before Friday’s 7:30 p.m. ET tip and exchange words before it’s all business. Neither Samuelson is a big trash-talker, and in the past, they’ve joked not to score on one another before the game.

Despite growing up under the same roof, Katie Lou and Karlie Samuelson have taken separate paths to becoming impactful WNBA players. Friday’s game will be a proud moment for both to share the court yet again.