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Michael Voepel, ESPN Senior WriterSep 4, 2024, 10:45 PM ET
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- Michael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
Indiana Fever fans roared when Caitlin Clark grabbed a rebound with 10.2 seconds left in Wednesday’s contest. It provided an even better ending to the team’s fifth victory in a row: Clark got her second triple-double of the WNBA season.
In the closing seconds of the 93-86 win over the Los Angeles Sparks, she snared her 10th rebound to go along with 10 assists and 24 points. Clark notched the first triple-double ever by a WNBA rookie (19 points, 13 assists, 12 rebounds) on July 6 in a victory over the New York Liberty. She is the fifth WNBA player to have multiple triple-doubles in a season.
Clark had 17 triple-doubles in her Iowa college career, and the Hawkeyes won all those games.
Also on Wednesday, Clark made four 3-pointers, putting her at 102 treys for the season. She is the quickest to reach 100 3s in WNBA history, doing so in her 34th game.
Earlier in the day, Clark was named WNBA Rookie of the Month and Eastern Conference Player of the Month for August.
She smiled Wednesday on the court when she got the last rebound, acknowledging afterward she knew about the triple-double because of the scoreboard. Her teammates and the crowd of 16,645 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse knew right away too.
“Every game she gets a little better,” said Indiana’s Christie Sides, who was named WNBA Coach of the Month on Wednesday. “Every game she gets a little bit [more] understanding of the speed and the quickness. I love the conversations with her about the game. She’s playing really well … she had some amazing assists tonight.”
The Fever earned their first playoff berth since 2016 on Tuesday, thanks to losses by the Atlanta Dream and the Chicago Sky. So, Indiana started a six-game homestand Wednesday with a lot of energy in the arena. The last-place Sparks battled throughout, but the Fever prevailed.
Like Clark, Aliyah Boston finished with 24 points for Indiana, adding 14 rebounds and four assists. It was Boston’s 12th double-double this season. Kelsey Mitchell added 18 points and NaLyssa Smith put up 13 for the Fever, who are now 18-16.
This is the first time the Fever have won at least five games in a row since a six-game winning streak during the 2015 season, when they went to the WNBA Finals before falling to the Minnesota Lynx. Indiana is now 7-1 since WNBA play resumed following the Olympic break. The Fever’s only loss during that stretch was Aug. 24 at Minnesota, which is Indiana’s next opponent, on Friday in Indianapolis.
Wednesday’s game was Clark’s third in a row with at least 20 points and 10 assists, which is tied with Courtney Vandersloot (for Chicago in 2017) for the longest such streak. Overall, Clark has seven games with at least 20 points and 10 assists. That is a WNBA single-season record and is already third on the WNBA career list behind Vandersloot (10) and the Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi (9).
Clark has scored or assisted on 224 points in the Fever’s five-game win streak, which is yet another WNBA record. Previously, that mark was 220 by Taurasi in 2006, her third season in the league.
“These are games you really need to win at home,” Clark said. “The more we can win, the better we can position ourselves for the playoffs. These fans spend a lot of money to come here and watch us and have fun with us. So, you want to kind of give them a show every time we’re in here.”
