Caitlin Clark says her Fever teammate Kelsey Mitchell “makes her life easier”
Caitlin Clark attributes her rookie season in large part to the chemistry between her and teammate, Princeton High School graduate Kelsey Mitchell.
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever has broken another WNBA points record, but she attributes most of the credit to her teammate, Princeton High School graduate Kelsey Mitchell.
The leading scorer in NCAA basketball history is now the leading rookie scorer in WNBA history. Clark scored a career-high 35 points in the Indiana Fever’s final home game of the year, raising her season point total to 761. She has one more game to play to extend her lead over Seimone Augustus, who set the record 18 years ago with the Minnesota Lynx.
“She makes my life easier out there and it’s hard to choose when we’re both on form,” Clark said of Mitchell on Sunday after Clark’s record-breaking game.
The only Indiana Fever player to score more points than Clark so far this season is Cincinnati’s Mitchell. Mitchell has scored 763 points in 2024, two points ahead of Clark. The Fever’s final regular-season game, Thursday at 7 p.m. against the Washington Mystics, will decide who will be the team’s leading scorer in 2024.
“I just think we understand each other a lot better now than we did at the beginning of the season,” Clark said after the Sept. 15 game. “The number of back-door cuts that girl can make just because we have eye contact and she knows she has to go through the back door is unbelievable. Like the play we made at the beginning of the third quarter, I wasn’t involved in that. I was there at the beginning, but we made that play a million times. I just had to laugh. She’s so fast that she gets free every time. I’m really happy for her and proud of her; she definitely deserves that moment.”
Kelsey Mitchell: From Princeton High to Ohio State to Indiana fever
After graduating from Princeton, Mitchell played at Ohio State from 2014 to 2018, earning AP All-American honors in all four years of her undergraduate career. After graduating, the Fever selected her second overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft, behind only two-time WNBA MVP A’Ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces. Mitchell, 28, was a two-time WNBA All-Star in 2023 and 2024.
The rookie points record isn’t the only one Clark has set so far this season. On July 17, she dished out the most assists of any player in a single WNBA game with 19 assists against the Dallas Wings. On July 6 against the New York Liberty, she recorded the first triple-double by a WNBA rookie with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists. Clark also set the record for most 3-pointers made in a season by a WNBA rookie (120 so far, surpassing the previous record of 88) and tied the rookie record for most 3-pointers made in a game with seven. She also currently leads the WNBA in assists per game.
The Fever are 20-19 and have clinched a playoff spot. The team hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2016.
How to watch the Indiana Fever vs Washington Mystics game on September 19
Fans can watch the Indiana Fever play the Washington Mystics on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 7 p.m. on Prime Video.
