It was another ground breaking day for both the WNBA and Caitlin Clark, one of many so far this season.
The front runner to win Rookie of the Year honors, Caitlin Clark, bolstered her odds on Saturday afternoon and put up a historic stat line as the Indiana Fever earn a huge, dramatic win over their nemesis, the New York Liberty.
The Fever found a way to overcame an enormous second-half deficit to take a five-point 83-78 victory in front of an excited sellout crowd at home.
After the Fever began the game pedal to the metal with a dominant run, the Liberty, who made it all the way to the Finals in 2023, bounced back, outscoring Indiana in the second and third quarters. New York led by as many as 11 points early in the final frame. However, the Fever refused to lay down and die, outscoring the Liberty 28-16 in the quarter to capture the comeback win.
Indiana’s comeback was ignited in large part by Clark’s historic show stopping performance. The rookie six-foot guard had 19 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds, becoming the first rookie in the 28-year WNBA history to record a triple-double. Clark’s stat line also makes her the first Indiana Fever player to record a triple-double. Her total rebounds and assists also ties her career high.
Clark got to the milestone when it mattered most, in the fourth quarter, claiming her 10th rebound.
“Obviously, it’s cool,” Clark said of the triple-double. “My teammates have been finishing the ball [at a] really, really high rate. My assist numbers, that’s because of them.”
Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu led everyone with a game-high 22 points, while teammate Betnijah Laney-Hamilton tied her career high with 20 points. On the Fever side of things, four of the five starters put up double digits, with Aliyah Boston scoring 18, Kelsey Mitchell scoring 14 and NaLyssa Smith chipping in 12 behind Clark’s 19. It was a balanced scoring effort.
Clark discussed the historic feat in a postgame press conference, sharing the credit for the game with her team.
“I’m just happy we won. I take a lot of pride in being able to do a lot of different things for this team,” Clark said. “Obviously 13 assists, that means my teammates made 13 shots off my passes, so that goes to them.”
The humble response to her great outing prompted Boston to joke about her teammate’s modesty. “She’s so humble, isn’t she?” Boston quipped. “That’s very cool, Caitlin. Great job, sister.”
Clark is just the latest WNBA player to put up the prestigious stat line. Due to the fact that WNBA games (40 minutes) are shorter in length than NBA games (48 minutes), triple-doubles have been extremely hard to come by in the WNBA. However, the triple-double has taken on a life of its own and exploded in the league in recent years, with nine in the summer of 2022 alone.
Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas leads the WNBA in career triple-doubles by a landslide, and recorded her 10th with a 13-point, 14-assist, 10 rebound game in the Sun’s victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday.
With the W, the Fever improve to 9-13 on the season, occupying the eighth and final playoff spot, while the 17-4 Liberty, who had defeated the Fever nine time in a row, stay in the No. 1 spot. New York has a difficult challenge ahead of them, traveling to play the second-ranked Sun on Wednesday, while Indiana plays the 11th-ranked Washington Mystics.
Clark and Chicago forward Angel Reese, who tied the WNBA’s consecutive double-double record in Friday’s Sky victory against the Seattle Storm, have made the league’s Rookie of the Year Award a great race between the two most high-profile rookies ever. They will both be on Team WNBA in the All-Star Game on July 20 facing Team USA.
