Caitlin Clark entered with WNBA with the expectation that she would dominate games with her signature 3-point shooting.
But Clark has proven that her game goes well beyond just shooting, as shown Wednesday night when she dished out 19 assists to go with her 24 points, setting a WNBA assist record, according to USA Today.
The Dallas Wings refused to join in the celebration, beating the Indiana Fever 101-93.
Clark’s performance puts her 13 assists shy of the league’s rookie assist record of 225 assists set by Ticha Penicheiro in 1998.
July has seen Clark turn into a robust playmaker; she’s averaged 12.5 assists per game this month, boosting her average for the season to a league-leading 8.2 assists.
When ESPN went to the statistics vault, it found that Clark had a hand in 66 points for her team, topping a record of 65 set by WNBA legend Diana Taurasi in 2006.
Caitlin Clark is in a category of her own 👏
With 19 assists in tonight’s game, Clark has set a new record for most AST in a single game in WNBA history
Previously, Courtney Vandersloot held the record with 18 AST in a game for the Chicago Sky vs. the Indiana Fever in 2020 pic.twitter.com/dUVzusSBTp
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 18, 2024
“She’s going to say it means nothing, but I think it’s pretty cool,” teammate Aliyah Boston said.
Do you like Caitlin Clark?
“I just try to set my teammates up for success,” Clark said.
“I think at times I can almost overpass … especially with [Boston], I’m just looking to set her up so much,” Clark added. “My eyes are just always on our post players.”
Fever coach Christie Sides said Clark “has the ability and her vision to see things.”
“We’re just getting better and better as we play with her to be on the same page with her. … Nineteen assists is incredible. That’s incredible,” Sides said.
Clark was more focused on the loss than her individual success, however.
“Offensively, we were able to get whatever we wanted all night it felt like. It was just our defense,” Clark said.
“We gave up 28 points off turnovers. I think 20 of those were in the first half. So that really kills you to start the game, and just got to do a better job taking care of the ball. You give up 100-plus points, you’re not going to win very many games,” she said.
CAITLIN CLARK IS DEALING TONIGHT pic.twitter.com/wCMpZ606rL
— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) July 18, 2024
“It’s kind of frustrating. I feel like we’ve left two games out there that are very winnable for us going into the break, the Mystics at home and then obviously this one, and then we’ve won other matchups that are really tough for us,” Clark said. “I think that’s the biggest area for our team to grow. These last 14 games of the year, you can’t leave these opportunities on the table.”
The WNBA resumes play after the Olympics.
On Saturday, the WNBA All-Star team, which includes Clark and rookie Angel Reese (who are locked into a heated rookie of the year race), will play Team USA.
