Caitlin Clark records her second career triple-double as Indiana Fever beats Los Angeles Sparks

CNN
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Caitlin Clark filled the stat sheet once again in another victory for the Indiana Fever, recording a triple-double in a 93-86 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old superstar had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to record her second triple-double of her young career. She became the first rookie in WNBA history to accomplish the feat earlier this year. According to Fever, she is just the sixth WNBA player in history to record multiple triple-doubles in her career.

Indiana is 7-1 since the league resumed play after the Olympic break and on Tuesday clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2016.

Clark also became the first rookie to make 100 three-pointers in a season, nailing a step-back three in the third quarter. She is the sixth WNBA player to make triple-digit threes in a year.

The 2024 No. 1 overall pick set numerous records and made history during her rookie season, but she admitted that she cares more about her team’s success than anything else.

“You have to win to have all that on the side,” Clark said. “For me, winning basketball games is a lot of fun. It’s fun to walk off the court and the crowd is going crazy because you just won and played a good game. So for me, that’s the main goal. And I think when I do that, everything else comes together.”

Clark said she knew she had secured a triple-double when she grabbed her 10th rebound in the final seconds of the game and ended the timeout with a smile on her face as she dribbled away.

“Someone had to get the rebound,” she laughed. “AB (Aliyah Boston) joked, we always joke that we steal each other’s rebounds, so that was funny.”

The triple-double follows one of Clark’s best seasons – she is the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, Eastern Conference Player of the Month and WNBA Rookie of the Month.

Boston, the 2023 Rookie of the Year, also impressed, scoring 24 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, while Kelsey Mitchell scored 18 points as the Fever improved to 18-16.

“We’re not done yet,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said via the team. “Our goal is to make the playoffs, and we did that, and now we have six games left… We don’t have anything left to prove. We just have to make sure we keep doing what we’ve been doing and find ways to improve by that 1 percent.”

Odyssey Sims led the Sparks with 20 points, while Dearica Hamby added 16 as L.A. fell to 7-26, the worst mark in the league. The team is currently without rookie star Cameron Brink, who tore her ACL earlier this year.