Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark made more history on Wednesday when she set the WNBA’s rookie 3-point record during her team’s 84-80 win over the Connecticut Sun. Clark, who finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists, surpassed Atlanta Dream star Rhyne Howard and now has 88 3-pointers on the season.
The big win for the Fever was their first over the Sun this season, and showed just how much they’ve grown since their early defeats to the title contender. Now 15-16 on the season, the Fever are closing in on their first playoff appearance since 2016, and are just one game back of the sixth-place Phoenix Mercury.
It didn’t take long for Clark to put her name in the record books yet again. Less than three minutes into the game, she drove to her right, stepped back and buried the historic triple. It ended up being a rough shooting night for Clark, as she went 7-of-17 overall, including 3-of-12 from behind the arc. She stepped up in the clutch, however, and converted the go-ahead layup with 1:27 remaining.
Clark’s long-range shooting was one of the major selling points as she entered the league, but she’s been a bit inconsistent so far. She shot 32% in May, 36.8% in June, 27.3% in July and 36.8% in August. All told, she was at 33% on 8.5 attempts per game entering Wednesday.
Even if she hasn’t shot the ball as well as she did in college, she remains a significant threat from downtown. At the conclusion of the Fever’s win, no one else in the league has made more 3s than Clark. Plus, defenses must respect her shooting, which opens up her playmaking opportunities.
With teams showing significant attention to Clark, she has established herself as the best point guard in the league. She’s set the all-time single-game assists record, already has the single-season rookie assists record and leads the league in that category with 8.2 per game.
