Caitlin Clark makes more WNBA history in front of a record crowd as Indiana Fever down Atlanta Dream
By Sam Joseph, CNN
(CNN) — Watching Caitlin Clark make history is starting to become a familiar sight.
The 2024 WNBA No. 1 overall pick recorded her 21st game of the season with at least 15 points and five assists in the Indiana Fever’s 84-79 win over the Atlanta Dream on Monday, the most by any player in WNBA history.
Clark posted 19 points and seven assists along with seven rebounds, two steals and a block. She also made four three-pointers to bring her season total to 85, tying the rookie record set by the Dream’s Rhyne Howard in 2022.
17,608 fans packed in to the Atlanta Hawks’ State Farm Arena as the Dream set a record for the highest attendance for a WNBA game in Georgia. This was the fifth time this season that a team’s attendance record has been broken with the Fever as the visitors.
Remarking postgame about the crowd, Clark spoke after the game about the growth of women’s basketball over the course of the year.
“I feel like I’m just a kid that plays basketball and has a lot of fun,” she said. “And for me, like, coming into these arenas and these environments, I look around and it’s incredible. It really is.
“I don’t show up and expect these crowds. Sure, maybe you’ve gotten a little bit used to it, but for me, that’s not anything that ever gets old. It really is something that’s really cool, especially as a young girl who grew up going to games. As a young girl, I would have came to a game in a building like this and seen this type of crowd, I think I would have been kind of in heaven.
“It gives me a lot of joy to see the impact that I’ve been able to have, my teammates have been able to have, women’s basketball players all across the country have been able to have,” she added.
Indiana moves to 14-16 with the win – third in the East and seventh overall in the league standings – meaning the team has already secured its highest regular season win total since 2016. Kelsey Mitchell racked up a season-high 29 points to lead the team in scoring, her fourth straight game with at least 20 points, per the Fever.
2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds while some sharpshooting from Damiris Dantas saw her put up 11 points on 80% shooting in under 10 minutes of play.
Indiana opened up the game with an 11-3 run and did not relinquish the lead once, building up an 18-point advantage with around seven minutes to go in the third quarter. The Dream rallied to put pressure on the Fever later in the period and outscored their opponents by six in the fourth, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.
Atlanta – now at 10-19 on the season – was led by Tina Charles with 28 points, with Howard (16), Allisha Gray (12) and Jordin Canada (10) all hitting double figures.
The-CNN-Wire
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