Fevers Caitlin Clark breaks WNBA rookie record for assists
Add yet another |A|
milestone to Caitlin Clarks |B|
record-breaking 2024, her latest |C|
coming Sunday in the |D|
Indiana Fevers 92-75 win |E|
over the Seattle Storm |F|
as she broke the |G|
WNBA single-season rookie mark |H|
for assists. Clark, who |J|
leads the WNBA in |K|
assists at 8.3 per |L|
game, had 9 Sunday |M|
to reach 232, passing |O|
Ticha Penicheiros previous rookie |P|
record of 224 set |Q|
in 1998. Penicheiro was |R|
the No. 2 pick |S|
that year for the |U|
Sacramento Monarchs, who are |V|
no longer in the |Y|
WNBA. She helped lead |Z|
the Monarchs to the |A|
2005 league championship and |B|
finished her career with |C|
2,600 assists, third most |D|
in WNBA history. Clark |E|
was four years from |F|
being born when Penicheiro |G|
came into the WNBA, |H|
and was 10 years |J|
old when Penicheiro retired. |K|
But Clark said the |L|
two connected during her |M|
college career at Iowa. |O|
And she knows enough |P|
to accurately describe Penicheiro, |Q|
who is regarded as |R|
one of the most |S|
creative and exciting passers |U|
in womens basketball history. |V|
In fact, Clarks |L| passing is one of |M| her top attributes. Along |O| with scoring a Division |P| I mens and womens |Q| record 3,951 points at |R| Iowa, Clark had 1,144 |S| assists, third in NCAA |U| Division I womens history. |V| She topped Penicheiros WNBA |Y| rookie record in her |Z| 28th WNBA game; Penicheiro |A| set her mark in |B| 30 games.
With the |C| expansion of the WNBA |D| regular season to 40 |E| games, Clark still has |F| 12 games remaining to |G| add to her assist |H| total. The overall WNBA |J| single-season assist record is |K| 316, set last year |L| in 40 games by |M| the Connecticut Suns Alyssa |O| Thomas.
Clark at her |P| current pace could eclipse |Q| that in 11 more |R| games. Thomas currently is |S| second in the league |U| in assists with 202 |V| through 26 games.
If |Y| youd told me I |Z| was going to lead |A| the league in assists |B| coming in here in |C| my rookie season, I |D| probably would have told |E| you that you were |F| lying, said Clark, who |G| also had 23 points, |H| 5 rebounds and 2 |J| blocks Sunday. But I |K| take a lot of |L| pride in that. I |M| want to set my |O| teammates up first and |P| foremost, because thats going |Q| to help you have |R| the most successful team.
|S| dir="ltr">Im always looking for |U| my teammates in transition, |V| thats where I tend |Y| to thrive the most.
|Z| dir="ltr">Indiana, seventh in the |A| WNBA standings, is now |B| 13-15, matching last seasons |C| win total. The Fever |D| havent finished with a |E| winning record since 2015, |F| when they went 20-14 |G| and made the WNBA |H| Finals.
They havent made |J| the playoffs since 2016, |K| when they were 17-17.
|L| dir="ltr">I think we just |M| have a really balanced |O| attack, said Fever guard |P| Lexie Hull, who had |Q| a career-high 22 points |R| and was 6-of-7 from |S| 3-point range Sunday. Its |U| just really fun to |V| watch when you have |Y| Caitlin running in transition |Z| -- the ball can |A| go anywhere, anyone can |B| knock it down, our |C| offense is just so |D| fluid.
|E|
