Caitlin Clark of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever dropped a historic statline Wednesday in a game against the Washington Mystics.
Most of it was good and might further solidify her claim to the league’s Rookie of the Year honors — although some of the historic stats weren’t so hot and were part of the reason why the Fever dropped another game to fall to 9-14 on the season.
Clark managed to score 29 points and net a further five rebounds and 13 assists in the 89-84 loss to the Mystics, according to the Associated Press.
She also managed five 3-pointers, five steals and three blocks.
As StatMamba noted on its X account, she was the first NBA or WNBA player with those numbers — ever.
Caitlin Clark today:
29 PTS
5 REB
13 AST
5 STL
3 BLKNo player in WNBA or NBA history has ever recorded those numbers in a game. pic.twitter.com/c0cWLVIagA
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) July 10, 2024
Furthermore, Clark’s 29 points alone managed to up her total over Angel Reese’s best game; the Chicago Sky forward, Clark’s main rival for Rookie of the Year honors, only managed a best of 27 versus the Seattle Storm last week, with 10 rebounds, two assists, no steals and two blocks.
However, Clark did make unwanted history during the game, with a new record for most turnovers by a rookie with 127, Sports Illustrated noted, committing five during the Mystics game.
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She “beat” the record of the late Nikki McCray, who died last year and set it in 1998. (However, it’s worth noting that even then, McCray had played her first season in the American Basketball League, a short-lived rival to the WNBA that stalled despite starting first and initially having a higher quality of play than the NBA-subsidized women’s league.)
That said, the turnovers could be more a function of the fact that the Fever have been an up-and-down team, which still lacks the depth to challenge for a championship.
Indeed, Washington had pulled out to a 76-55 lead after the third quarter before a furious rally sparked by Clark fell short.
“After Clark capped a 14-0 run with a free throw to pull Indiana within 85-82 with 1:05 left, [the Mystics’ Ariel] Atkins answered at the other end with an off-balance shot in the lane,” the AP reported.
Atkins was the game’s second-leading scorer with 26 points — and she was marginally more efficient from the field, going 10-17 on field goals to Clark’s 7-14. (On the other hand, Clark was 5-9 from 3-point-land, while Atkins was only 1-3.)
While six of the Mystics’ players took home double-digit scoring totals, only three Fever players did — Clark, guard Kelsey Mitchell and forward Nalyssa Smith.
Forward Aliyah Boston, usually the Fever’s other top player, only managed six points, six rebounds, no assists or steals and two blocks.
Nevertheless, the Fever were playing at home, and the Mystics are a worse team, record-wise, having gone 6-17 thus far this season.
This was also only their third win away from home, the District of Columbia’s Entertainment and Sports Arena; the Mystics are a woeful 3-10 on the road.
So, yes, the most important part for Caitlin Clark might be the mostly epic statline. The bottom line for the Fever, however, is that they’re tenuously hanging on to the bottom of the playoff ladder and need to move up, desperately — or else Clarkmania ends when the regular season does.
