By Leila Serrano
Rookie sensation Caitlin Clark set a new Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) single-season assist record on Friday, Sept. 13. Indiana Fever lost 78-74 to the two-time reigning champions, the Las Vegas Aces.
Clark notched her 317th assist of the season at the 4:55 mark of the second quarter when Kelsey Mitchell converted her pass into a driving layup. This milestone surpassed Alyssa Thomas’ previous record of 316 assists set last season. Clark ended the game with nine assists, bringing her season total to 321 before wrapping up the regular season with 336..
Clark’s achievement came just two days after MVP front-runner A’ja Wilson set the WNBA single-season scoring record. Wilson, who added 15 points on Sept. 13, to put her with 971 points this season, became the league’s first player to score 1,000 points in a single season after a 29-point performance on Sunday, Sept. 15.
“I think it definitely speaks to the whole entire year and how historic it has been for this league and how great the basketball has been for the league, and we’re not even into the playoffs yet,” Clark said in an interview with ESPN. “I think that’s what’s so fun about it, is you’re just going to continue to see records be taken down, but also I think really good basketball, and that’s why it’s been so fun to watch.”
As reported by ESPN Research, Clark has led her team in assists 34 times this season, establishing a new WNBA record. Additionally, she has dished out at least five assists in 25 consecutive games, matching Courtney Vandersloot’s 2021 streak for the second-longest in WNBA history. Vandersloot holds the top spot with 40 straight games spanning the 2018-19 seasons.
Clark added a new milestone to her career, but her first half was otherwise quiet. She went scoreless, missing all five field-goal attempts, and received her sixth technical foul after striking the stanchion in frustration following a defensive foul. One more technical before the regular season ends will result in a one-game suspension.
Clark rebounded in the second half, scoring 18 points. Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever with 20 points, 19 of which came in the first half.
A’ja Wilson grabbed 17 rebounds for the Aces, marking her WNBA-record 11th game of the season with at least 15 points and 15 rebounds. Point guard Chelsea Gray added 21 points, her second 20-point game this season and her first since late June, following her return from a foot injury that had sidelined her early in the 2024 campaign.
“I’ve been feeling like myself after the Olympic break,” Gray said in an interview with ABC News. “You want to be playing your best basketball in September and October. … I just trust the process, and I know I put the work in. … I’ve got to surrender myself to the result, and that’s what I’ve been doing and it paid off tonight.”
The Aces are the only team the Fever failed to defeat this season, though their final game was their closest matchup of the four meetings, following an 11-point loss on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Indiana’s back-to-back losses mark the team’s first consecutive defeats since late June.
Clark is currently taking the basketball world by storm. Her remarkable performances on the court are drawing huge crowds and consistently selling out games, making her not just a star athlete but a cultural phenomenon. Clark’s influence goes beyond her impressive statistics and highlight reels; she is rapidly becoming the face of the WNBA and a prominent figure in women’s sports.
“I am so impressed with Caitlin Clark, I wanna buy tickets just to see her play. … and I don’t even like basketball like that,” said Franco Donadelli, senior at the University of South Florida.
As we witness her dominance and poise on the court, it begs the question: How will Clark continue to reshape the perception of women’s sports? Can she alter the historical landscape of women’s sports?
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Photo courtesy of Grace Hollars, IndyStar