WNBA News

Sky’s Reese Sets WNBA Single -Season Record – With every passing game, Angel Reese continues to amaze and take the league by storm, setting WNBA records in her rookie season.

The Chicago Sky forward broke the mark for most rebounds in a single campaign when she collected her sixth board in Sunday’s 79–74 loss to one of the hottest team in the league, the Minnesota Lynx. That gave Reese an incredible 405 rebounds on the season, surpassing Sylvia Fowles’ record of 404 set during the 2018 season. Fowles played for the Lynx at the time, adding an interesting nugget to Reese’s achievement. Fowles was drafted by the Sky in 2008 out of LSU. The similarities are endless.

“Coming into the WNBA, I just knew my motor,” Reese said. “Offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds is something that I know I can always do. I knew it was going to translate right away.

“A lot of people think it’s because I get my own [misses] but statistically, it’s not. People think it’s because I’m the tallest on the court, when I’m not. It’s being able to go down there and bang, doing things that a lot of people don’t want to do. Defense and rebounding wins championships. And I’ve won championships at every level by just doing that.”

Reese, 22 years-of-age, cleaned the glass using Windex, finishing with a massive 19 rebounds and 17 points, her 24th double-double of the season. That elevated her rebound total to 418 with eight games remaining in the Sky’s regular season. Fellow rookie Kamilla Cardoso, out of the University of South Carolina, led Chicago with a career-high 22 points, adding nine rebounds, while Michaela Onyenwere chipped in 15 points.

Courtney Williams led the Lynx with 22 points, followed by Kayla McBride’s 17 and Napheesa Collier’s 15. The team improved to 23–9, maintaining the third-best record in the WNBA.

Reese currently tops the WNBA with an average of 13.1 rebounds per game. If the rookie is able to keep up that level and maintains that average, she could put the season rebounds mark out of reach. Reese is on pace to end the season with 517 rebounds, as pointed out by SB Nation’s Noa Dalzell. That would give her 113 more boards than Fowles’ previous record.

With that kind of rebounding effort and intensity, it surely was no coincidence that Reese donned Dennis Rodman’s Detroit Pistons jersey, No. 10, prior to Friday’s game against her arch rival Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. Rodman rebounded like his life depended on it during his NBA career, leading the league for seven consecutive seasons while averaging 13.1 boards per game and winning two Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Since getting a much-needed month off for the Olympic break, Reese has averaged 16.1 rebounds in seven games. During that stretch, she became the first WNBA player to grab 20 rebounds in three consecutive games and got her 23rd double-double of the season, topping the mark previously set by Tina Charles.

Even with all of Reese’s individual accolades, the Sky lost their sixth game in a row and fell to 11-21 as they continue to try to stay above water in their battle for a playoff spot. Chicago is a dismal 1-7 since the WNBA resumed play after the Olympic break.

“Obviously, it’s tough — this is the most losing I have ever done in my life,” Reese said. “So just being able to stay mentally positive through this, that’s the bright light of it. We still are in the playoffs [race]. I’m just looking forward to the next game, there’s ways to get better and learn from this one.”

The Sky (11–20) play on the road Tuesday against the Las Vegas Aces (19–12) at 10 p.m. ET. That puts Reese up against A’ja Wilson, the front-runner for WNBA MVP who ranks just behind her, second in the league averaging 11.8 rebounds per game.

And…

Clark, Mitchell Lead Fever in Win Over Wings – The Indiana Fever got the sour taste out of their mouths, avenging their July 18 loss to the Dallas Wings, beating them on their home court in a thriller, 100-93, for their 17th win of the season.

There were a couple of basketball legends on had to witness this thriller. Former NBA player and current Pacers coach Rick Carlisle and WNBA legend and Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper, who won four WNBA titles and four Finals MVPs with the Houston Comets.

The Fever are now one game above .500, 17-16 and sit in sixth place in the fluid WNBA standings, firmly in the playoff hunt.

Kelsey Mitchell continues her epic heater extend a franchise record. She notched her seventh-straight 20+ point game, keeping up a Fever record that she already broke three games ago. Mitchell has scored 20 or more points in each of the Fever’s games since the Olympic break.

Mitchell finished the game with a team-high 36 points, two shy of her career-high of 38, on an efficient 12-of-22 shooting from the field. That, paired with rookie Caitlin Clark’s 28 points, gave the Fever an unstoppable backcourt presence against the Wings.

The duo has been putting on a show like this together since early July, when things really started to come together and click on all cylinders for the Fever. According to the WNBA’s Mark Schindler, Clark and Mitchell have been averaging 44.3 points per game (22.2 for Clark, 22.1 for Mitchell) in the 12 games the Fever have played since the start of July. It is the highest-scoring duo in the league during that prolong stretch.

Mitchell’s scoring has been a driving force for the Fever in this post-Olympic stretch. As a seven-year veteran, Mitchell is the key cog the Fever have needed and leaned on to be successful.

Clark and Mitchell were unconscious from the perimeter, burying five 3s each, combining to go 10 of 18 from downtown, as the Fever shot a blistering 50% from the great beyond and 53% overall.

“When you have two guards that are both making plays, it puts the other team in the tough position of what to take away, who to put on who,” Clark said. “We’re definitely shooting it well. We’re playing off each other well. We’re looking for each other, and we’re getting downhill, too. I think it’s been a good balance of everything.”

At one point in the opening quarter, after Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale knocked down her fourth triple, Mitchell was left speechless. Instead, she glanced over to coach Christie Sides, standing near the Fever bench, and put up her arms as if to say, what am I supposed to do?

There was no answer for or any way they could guard the All-Star Game MVP. They should not feel bad because not many people can. She scored 34 points in the second half of the All-Star game on her way to the MVP nod.
Ogunbowale stands just 5-8, undersized for the WNBA, but she makes up for the lack of size with her quickness and playmaking abilities. It showed in the first meeting between Dallas and Indiana. She did a little bit of everything, putting up 24 points and added on seven rebounds and seven assists, playing all but 20 seconds in the Wings’ 101-83 decisive win.

This time around, she had 24 points in the first half alone, over half of Dallas’ 46 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Mitchell and guard Lexie Hull shared the impossible task of guarding Ogunbowale, but the burden mainly fell on Mitchell as Hull was occupied with Wings forward Satou Sabally.

Ogunbowale’s scoring cooled off slightly in the second half, just enough that the Fever could maintain a lead at the end of the game. Ogunbowale finished with 34 points on 12-of-25 from the field, including 9-of-16 from 3-point range.

“I salute people like Arike because off the court, we’re really great friends,” Mitchell said. “We tend to work out and train together in the offseason. I wasn’t expecting any other way coming from a person like that.”