Clark Drops Career-High 35, Adds to Rookie Record – Half woman, half amazing. Where are all the haters now? Superstar guard Caitlin Clark refuses to rest on her laurels, and just cannot stop breaking records and shattering the mold. The Indiana Fever rookie sensation recorded her latest milestone on Sunday, breaking the WNBA single-season rookie point record on the way to a 110-109 victory over the Dallas Wings.
Clark wrapped things up, putting her foot on the gas pedal, with a career-high 35 points in Sunday’s game, racking up 761 total points to eclipse Seimone Augustus for most points in a rookie season. Augustus, now a Hall-of-Famer and assistant coach at her alma mater, LSU, set the record in 2006 with the Minnesota Lynx, scoring 744 points in her rookie season.
“I got my picture with her on my dad’s little phone — it was maybe like a BlackBerry back in the day,” Clark said after the game. “I vividly remember it. I was always a fan of her game and the way she could shoot the ball.”
The game was an instant classic, coming down to the final seconds, with the Wings making it a one possession game, getting within two points with just seconds remaining. Fever center and former No. 1 pick out the University of South Carolina Aliyah Boston, stepped to the line and buried two free throws with one second left to take the win just out of Dallas’ reach. Although Dallas forward Satou Sabally was able to swish the buzzer-beating three-pointer, it was not enough, and Indiana took the 110-109 win.
In addition to Clark’s career-high in points, she contributed three rebounds, eight dimes and three steals. She also was on fire from downtown, connecting on six triples, just one shy of her career high.
Her backcourt mate, Kelsey Mitchell, who has been on a tear since the Olympic break, was right behind Clark, scoring 27 points for the Fever, while Sabally and Arike Ogunbowale also were cooking with 27 points each for Dallas, but only one tandem could really enjoy the feast.
“We did a great job of just kind of piggybacking our games off one another,” Mitchell said. “She’s young and she likes to play fast, and I can appreciate it. I think our pace can set us up for a lot of different stuff.”
Clark has without a doubt stamped her name in ink in the record books this season, breaking both rookie records and WNBA records alike. The 22-year-old guard broke the rookie records for assists and three-pointers in last month, before breaking the WNBA single-season assist record on Friday at home against the Los Vegas Aces. She set the single-game assist record back in July, with 19 assists, also against the Wings, but it occurred in a loss.
Behind the trio of Clark, Boston and Mitchell, the Indiana Fever snapped an eight-year playoff drought to return to the postseason for the first time since 2016. With Sunday’s victory, the Fever earned their 20th win of the season and have now clinched the sixth seed.
“Everybody is definitely excited for the playoffs,” Clark said of the Fever’s upcoming postseason trip, their first since 2016. “We’re not just happy to be there. We really feel like we can compete with every single team.”
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Aces’ Wilson First to Score 1,000 Points in Season – Is there anything she cannot do between the lines! Just four days after setting the league’s single-season scoring record, Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson was back at it again, making even more WNBA history.
Wilson, thanks to a 29-point effort in Las Vegas’ 84-71 win over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday night at Michelob Ultra Arena, surpassed the 1,000-point plateau this season. She is the first player to hit four figures in a single season in WNBA history.
Wilson surpassed Seattle Storm All-Star Jewell Loyd and became the league’s single-season scoring leader on Wednesday night in a win over Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. Wilson came into that game a dozen points shy of the record, and she broke it before halftime.
Wilson is the overwhelming favorite to win the WNBA’s MVP award this season, which would be the third of her career. She is averaging an unbelievable league-best 27 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Her 27 points per night is nearly five full points more than anyone else is scoring in the league. Wilson has averaged 21 points per game throughout her career, which is tied with Cynthia Cooper of the Houston Comets for the best output in WNBA history.
“I really try to pinpoint little things,” Wilson said of how she continues to improve after taking home two previous MVP awards and two WNBA titles. “Everyone can come in and say, ‘Oh, I want to win a championship.’ But what are the little things you’re going to do to get to that point? That’s what I want to be great in.
“I really have to credit my offseason work and my preparation. I take time to get away from basketball, to let me miss it. So then when I’m in it, I don’t take it for granted. My screensaver is, ‘Rest at the end, not in the middle,’ and that’s something I tell myself every single day.
“I got work to do, that that’s going to be my mindset until I’m done playing, until I’ve squeezed everything out of this game.”
Only Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese is averaging more rebounds per game than Wilson this season. While that will not change in the final week of the regular season, Wilson is closing the gap furiously on Reese’s single-season rebounding record. Reese cleaned the glass like a vacuum, collecting 446 rebounds this summer before her season-ending wrist injury against the Los Angeles Sparks. Wilson has a career-high 444 rebounds with two games remaining in the regular season.
Wilson had nine rebounds and went 13-of-25 from the field in the Aces’ 13-point win on Sunday night. Las Vegas led the entire second half and broke open a 20-point lead near the end of the third quarter before hanging on for the win down the stretch. It marked the team’s third consecutive win and the seventh in its past eight games. The Aces are 25-13 and sit in fourth place in the league standings. They will close out the regular season against the Seattle Storm and Dallas Wings this week.
The Sun fell to 27-11 on the year, and are third in the standings with a two-game lead over the Aces.
While it may not be possible to improve their postseason seeding, Wilson and the Aces are looking like they have all the momentum necessary and are in peak form on their quest for a three-peat this fall.
Aces coach Becky Hammon, who played eight seasons of her career in San Antonio, talked about what good fortune it was for the team in a new city to have an incoming star like Wilson.
“It’s not easy to be A’ja Wilson every day. It just isn’t. There’s a lot of expectation,” Hammon said. “The city is lucky that they’ve gotten to see her grow up. You get to see her evolve into not only this unbelievable player, but a person who gives back to her community, who cares about the people she’s playing with and interacting with.”
