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Alexa Philippou, ESPN
INDIANAPOLIS — Rookie star Caitlin Clark broke the WNBA single-season assist record Friday night in the Indiana Fever’s 78-74 loss to the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces.
Clark recorded her 317th assist of the season at the 4:55 mark of the second quarter when Kelsey Mitchell took her pass and scored on a drive. The rookie passed Alyssa Thomas’ 316 dimes from last season. Clark finished the game with nine assists, giving her 321 assists on the season.
Clark’s feat came two days after MVP front-runner A’ja Wilson set a record for points scored in a season. Wilson, who scored 15 points Friday night, now has 971, putting her 29 from becoming the first WNBA player to reach 1,000 points in a season.
Earlier this summer, Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese set a WNBA single-season record for rebounds (446). Reese’s rebounding (13.1) and Wilson’s scoring (27.0) averages are both on pace to set league records, and while Clark leads the league with 8.4 assists per game, Courtney Vandersloot’s 2020 average of 10.0 assists appears safe to remain the league’s single-season record.
“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. “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.
“That’s why the fans have been showing up. The viewership has been absolutely crushed this year. So I think everybody’s just kind of raising their game. The competition’s just getting better and better, and it’s fun as a competitor to show up in this league every night and know you have to bring your best, because whoever’s on the other side of the court from you, they’re going to bring their best, and that’s what makes it fun. It’s been cool to watch everybody really take a step up and elevate, and to be a part of that has been really fun for myself too.”
According to ESPN Research, Clark has led her team in assists 34 times this season, extending her WNBA record. She has had at least five assists in 25 straight games, tying Vandersloot in 2021 for the second-longest streak in WNBA history; Vandersloot holds the record with 40 straight across the 2018-19 seasons.
Clark might have added a new accolade to her résumé, but her first half was otherwise quiet. She was held scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting from the field and earned her sixth technical foul when she hit the stanchion in frustration after picking up a foul on defense. If she gets one more before the end of the regular season, she will be suspended for a game.
She bounced back with 18 points in the second half. Mitchell finished with a team-high 20, including 19 in the first half.
For the Aces, Wilson finished with 17 rebounds, her WNBA-record 11th 15-15 game of the season. Point guard Chelsea Gray’s 21 points marked her second 20-piece this season and first since late June, when she was making her way back from a 2023 foot injury that sidelined her through the beginning of the 2024 campaign.
“I’ve been feeling like myself after the Olympic break,” Gray said. “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.”
Las Vegas led by as many as 13 on Friday, but the Fever pulled to within two with less than two minutes left. A Kelsey Plum 3-pointer with 56 seconds left gave the Aces some breathing room.
Fever players and coach Christie Sides lamented, though, how Indiana finished 11-for-20 from the free throw line and experienced lulls in the first quarter and the start of the third against Las Vegas.
The Aces are the only team the Fever did not beat this season, though Friday’s result was the closest game of all four after an 11-point loss Wednesday. Indiana’s back-to-back losses were its first since late June.
“When we played Vegas early, we weren’t there, and they got us,” Sides said. “But right now, they’ve got to really believe that we are there with those guys, and I think they do. And now we just have to find ways to not have those lulls that we’re having. … That was playoff basketball out there tonight, and you’ve got to make sure that you are not giving them any opportunity to take any advantage of times where you’re frustrated or it’s just not going our way and we take several possessions off. You just can’t do that with these great teams.”
Meanwhile, after a stretch of five losses in seven games, Las Vegas is finding its stride with six wins in its past seven games. Its sole loss in that span came to the top-ranked New York Liberty without Wilson (ankle).
“For us, we’re just focused on the next game. We play Connecticut [on Sunday], one of the best teams in the league, super tough, and we have a tough remaining schedule,” Plum said about looking ahead. “To be honest, we have to focus on what’s in front of us, taking one game at a time and whenever we get to the playoffs and we’ll lock in then.”