2024-08-19 08:30:02
INDIANAPOLIS — In a game that saw Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark break multiple records, both franchise and league-wide, the Fever avoided a season sweep from the Seattle Storm with an impressive 92-75 victory Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Fever are 13-15 with two straight victories over teams ahead of them in the standings. Indiana guard Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever with 27 points, while Caitlin Clark had 23 and Lexie Hull scored a career-high 22.
Watch:Fever star Caitlin Clark set WNBA rookie record for assists in a season
More:Fever match last year’s wins total… with 12 games left in 2024 season.
Lexie Hull sets new career high, leads Fever in 3-point shooting
Throughout her WNBA career, Lexie Hull has been known as a defender. She always garnered the toughest defensive assignment, and relied on for defense more than offense. As a role 3-point shooter, she had never made more than three 3-pointers in a single game.
Until Sunday afternoon.
She came off the bench for the defensive assignment of guarding Jewell Loyd — a player who had scored more than 90 points over three games against the Fever. Loyd scored 23 points against the Fever on Sunday afternoon, but had a +/- of -17
Where Hull truly shined, though, was at the 3-point arc.
Hull hit two 3s before halftime, marking just the fifth time in her career she had multiple 3s in a game. The second half was even better.
The Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd got louder and louder as Hull sank more treys, culminating in a fourth-quarter shot that got them out of their seats. Hull’s sixth 3 of the night not only put the Fever up 12 points with four minutes left, but it was a new career high of 22 points for the third-year player. Her previous high was 20, set against Washington in July 2023.
Hull finished the game 6-of-7 from 3-point range and 8-of-10 from the field. She led the Fever to a 15-of-31 3-point shooting effort overall — a sizable advantage over Seattle’s 7-of-20 shooting from 3-point range.
Caitlin Clark becomes WNBA rookie assists leader
Caitlin Clark only needed two assists to break a 26-year-old WNBA record. The rookie came into the game with 223 assists, just behind Ticha Penicheiro’s WNBA rookie record of 224, which was set in 30 games with the Sacramento Monarchs in 1998.
Naturally, she broke the record before halftime. And she only needed 28 games to do it.
Clark’s record came in the second quarter on a post entry pass under the basket to Lexie Hull, who weaved through defenders to get an easy layup.
Penicheiro congratulated Clark in a video posted to the Indiana Fever’s X page, saying, “Congratulations! A record that stood since 1998, and you came here and you break it. Super proud of you, I know the work you put in. A lot of people talk about your shooting, I was always mesmerized by your passing, your court vision, and how you make your teammates better.”
Clark is averaging 8.3 assists per game so far this season, giving her a chance to break Alyssa Thomas’ WNBA record of 316 — set just last year. The rookie has 12 more games to do so, necessitating an average of 7.5.
How many points did Caitlin Clark score vs Seattle Storm?
The rookie had 23 points against the Storm on 9-of-19 shooting, adding on nine assists and five rebounds.
