Caitlin Clark breaks WNBA rookie assist record as Fever continue playoff push
Kelsey Mitchell scored 27 points, Caitlin Clark added 23 points and nine assists and Lexie Hull scored 12 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter on Sunday, helping the Indiana Fever beat the Seattle Storm 92-75.
With 232 assists so far this season, Clark breaks the previous WNBA rookie record of 224, set by Ticha Penicheiro in 1998. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft has scored at least 20 points in five of her last six games. She is averaging 23.7 points on 47 percent shooting from the field and 11.7 assists in that span.
Mitchell hit 10 of 19 shots from the field and 5 of 8 from 3-point range, while Hull made 8 of 10 shots and hit a career-best six 3s on seven attempts. Aliyah Boston grabbed 15 rebounds to go with nine points and a career-high eight assists for Indiana.
Jewell Loyd made a jumper that cut the Storm’s deficit to 61-60 with nine minutes left. Indiana’s Damiris Dantas made a free throw about a minute later, Hull made two 3-pointers with 35 seconds between them and Mitchell added another from behind the arc before Boston made a short jumper to cap a 14-5 run that made it 75-65 with 5:51 left.
Skylar Diggins-Smith responded with consecutive buckets in the lane to make it a six-point game just 28 seconds later, but Hull again hit back-to-back 3s — this time in a span of 31 seconds — to start a 15-2 run. Clark followed with another 3-pointer, then assisted on 3s by Mitchell and Dantas, the latter of which gave the Fever a 90-71 lead with 2:24 left.
Loyd led Seattle (17-10) with 26 points, Diggins-Smith scored 15 and Nneka Ogwumike added 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals. The trio combined to make just 20 of 54 from the field, while the Storm shot just 38.9 percent (28 of 72) overall.
Indiana (13-15), which matched its 2023 campaign win total with 12 games remaining in the regular season, has won back-to-back games after the month-long break for the Paris Olympics. The Fever have won four of five overall and are 10-5 after winning just three of 11 games to open the season.