No One in the WNBA Has Done What Caitlin Clark Just Did

Caitlin Clark seemed "bouncy" to Indiana coach Stephanie White before the Fever faced the Seattle Storm on Friday night. The sharpshooting star not too far removed from a back injury bounced right into the record books—her own, her team's, and the WNBA's. Clark had the first 40-point game of her three-year career while helping rally the Fever to a 110-107 victory, scoring 45 points with 10 assists to become the first player with 40 or more points and 10 or more assists in a game in WNBA history, reports the AP. Oh, and the scoring total was a franchise record.

"I feel like you just have to believe you're going to have those type of nights," said Clark, who was 11 of 18 from the field, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range, and had another career high by going 17 of 19 on free throws. "And you have to visualize having those type of nights. I feel like that's what I did." It was Clark's fourth game since returning from a two-week absence due to a back injury that sidelined her after a game against Phoenix in which she took a hit to the throat from Alyssa Thomas; that incident eventually led to a one-game suspension for Thomas. Because of a long break between games, Clark only missed two. She played a season-low 16 minutes in a 106-92 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks in her first game back.

Clark, who became the fastest player to reach 200 career 3-pointers in the first half against the Storm, played all but 26 seconds of the fourth quarter and scored 16 points while finishing just shy of her first 30-minute game in almost a month. "I told [White] at halftime I felt really good and I didn't want to lose this game," Clark said. "I can trust all the work I've put in on my body. I've spent a ton of time on it. I know I'm doing all the right things. There was no way I was ever coming out of the game in the fourth quarter."

"She does things that we haven't seen," White said. "In the moment, sometimes it's surreal to see. ... I look down at the stat sheet at the end of the game and it's like, 'Holy [expletive]. Forty-five and 10.' Just an absolutely incredible performance." Clark's career night came after she went 3 of 19 from 3-point range in the previous three games, dropping her shooting percentage from behind the arc to 32%. She finished the game one 3-pointer shy of her career best.