Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 35 points with eight assists, Kelsey Mitchell added 30 points and the duo combined to hit 12 of Indiana’s 16 three-pointers to help the Fever beat the Dallas Wings 110-109 on Sunday.
Clark, whose 329 assists are a single-season WNBA record, has a rookie-record 761 points this season, breaking the mark set by Seimone Augustus (744) in 2006.
Clark paid tribute to Augustus after the game.
“I got my picture with her on my dad’s little phone – it was maybe like a BlackBerry back in the day,” Clark said. “I vividly remember it. I was always a fan of her game and the way she could shoot the ball.”
Indiana (20-19), who were coming off back-to-back losses to the two-time defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, clinched the No 6 seed in the playoffs, which begin next Sunday. The Fever, who will appear in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, will play the third-seeded Connecticut Sun, who won three of the four regular-season matchups between the teams, in the first round.
“Everybody is definitely excited for the playoffs,” Clark said. “We’re not just happy to be there. We really feel like we can compete with every single team.”
Indiana tied their franchise record for single-game scoring and tied their season high for made threes. The Fever made 38 of 76 from the field, shot 47% from three-point range and hit 18 of 21 (86%) from the free-throw line.
Elsewhere on Sunday, A’ja Wilson became the first WNBA player to score 1,000 points in a season when she had 29 in the Las Vegas Aces’ 84-71 win over the Sun.
Wilson hit a pull-up from the elbow with two minutes left to reach the mark. Earlier this week, the Aces’ star broke the single-season scoring record that Jewell Loyd set last year. Las Vegas called timeout about 30 seconds later and her teammates mobbed Wilson. She then went out on the court and acknowledged a loud ovation from the crowd.
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“I really have to credit my offseason work and my preparation,” said Wilson after the game. “I take time to get away from basketball, to let me miss it. So then when I’m in it, I don’t take it for granted. My screensaver is, ‘Rest at the end, not in the middle,’ and that’s something I tell myself every single day. I got work to do, that that’s going to be my mindset until I’m done playing, until I’ve squeezed everything out of this game.”
The Aces (25-13) hold a one-game lead over Seattle for the No 4 seed in the playoffs and home-court advantage in that series. Las Vegas have won seven of their last eight games.