The Indiana Fever looked like a new team since the NBA’s hiatus due to the Paris Olympics, winning their second straight game with a 92-75 home win over the Seattle Storm on Sunday.
The guard’s performance was the key difference in the Fever win, with Kelsey Mitchell scoring 27 points (5-of-8 from 3-pointers), Kaitlyn Clark scoring 23 points and Lexi Hull adding 22 points (6-of-7 from 3-pointers). Aliyah Boston also had 15 rebounds for Indiana, which improved to 13-15 on the season (8-5 at home).
Clarke had her 225th career assist in the second quarter of the game, surpassing Tisha Benichiro’s 1998 record for most assists by a rookie in WNBA history. (Though there are conflicting statistics on how many assists Benichiro had to set the record — the WNBA says 224, while ESPN says 225 — Clarke surpassed the record anyway.)
“Tisha has been a huge fan of mine since I was in college, and she was always there to cheer me on or just someone to give me advice,” Clark said in Post-match interview With ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “To get past someone like her makes me forever grateful that she was a legend in our game.”
Fever posted a video of Benichiro on social media after Clark broke the record.
“I was always impressed with your passing, your vision of the court and how you improved your teammates,” Benichiro said. “So this record is in good hands, and keep doing what you’re doing, keep elevating yourself, the women’s game and the WNBA.”
In addition to her 23 points, the standout rookie finished with nine assists, five rebounds and two blocks. Clarke leads the WNBA in assists, averaging 8.3 per game.
The two teams started the game slowly, with Seattle leading 17-13 at the end of the first quarter. But Indiana fought back in the second quarter, regaining the lead in the final minutes of the first half, and held a 35-34 lead heading into the locker room.
The Storm, who have struggled with threes this season, got off to a strong start from beyond the arc, hitting 4-of-6 in the first quarter and finishing 5-of-12 in the first half. Meanwhile, the Fever struggled with threes: going 0-6 on threes early in the game before Mitchell stepped up in the second quarter, finishing 3-of-13 on threes in the first half. Both teams were below 50% on field goals.
The Fever came out on top in the second half, going 8-2 early in the third quarter, which included two three-pointers from Mitchell and Clark. But the Storm managed to claw their way back into the game midway through the quarter, and held Indiana’s lead for a long period. The Fever went into the final half with a narrow 59-58 lead before outscoring Seattle 33-17 in the fourth quarter.
Joel Lloyd led Seattle with 26 points, while Nneka Ogwumike continued her dominance on both sides of the court, finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists and four steals. Izzy Magbigore also contributed nine points, seven rebounds and five blocks. The Storm fell to 17-10 (6-7 on the road), third in the Western Conference and fifth in the league.
The Fever will have about a week off, with their next game on Saturday against the Minnesota Lynx at 8 p.m. ET. The Storm conclude their road trip against the Washington Mystics on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
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