The Guru’s WNBA Report: Clark’s Indy Win Gets Her More Records; Las Vegas Game Winner Over Atlanta Removes Last Unbeaten; Toronto Gets First Road Win

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

It was a day of Indiana’s Caitlin Clark and Las Vegas’ Aja Wilson setting more records in their respective games as part of Sunday’s four-part WNBA package, expansion Toronto racked up another early victory, and a surprise win by Chicago.

Clark had 21 points and 10 assists with seven boards in a near triple-double in just 24 minutes, and after missing most of last season playing in just 13 games through mid-July,  her 12th time with a 20-point and 10-assist game set a WNBA record in an 89-78 win by the Fever (2-2) over the Seattle Storm (1-3) before a home crowd of 14,505 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, though teammate and 2023 overall No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston missed her first game in her four-year pro career.

The first miss in 275 games also includes an additional four years playing in the NCAA at South Carolina under Dawn Staley.

Boston departed Indiana’s previous game with a lower right leg injury and was listed day-to-day.

That game, a narrow overtime loss to Washington at home in which a stat update gave\ two more assists saw Clark corrected to break a tie with Chicago’s Courtney Vandersloot and on Sunday her fourth straight game of 20-plus points and five-plus assists tied a league mark to start a season.

Her 32 points in Friday’s loss also set a mark with her second 30-plus 10-assist career game.

In a narrow 85-84 win by defending champion Las Vegas (4-1) at Atlanta (2-1) on Chelsea Gray’s shot with 3.6 seconds left in regulation that quickly took away the last unbeaten team at the end of the first week of the WNBA’s 30th season before a sellout home crowd of 17,044 at the NBA Hawks’ State Farm Arena, Wilson scored 20 as her 5,841 career points moved her past her Aces coach Becky Hammon to 19th on the league’s all-time career list.

Expansion Toronto (2-2) won its second game triumphing 106-96 at Los Angeles (1-3) before a Crypto.com Arena crowd of 11,648 as Brittney Sykes had a career-high 38 points in the Tempo’s first-ever road victory.

Rookie and first-round pick Gabriela Jaquez out of NCAA champion UCLA had early career highs of 20 points and eight boards as Chicago (3-1) grabbed an 86-78 win at Minnesota (2-2) before a crowd of 10,001 at the Target Center in Minneapolis but the Sky lost third-year pro Rickea Jackson, the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft out of Tennessee, with a left knee injury halfway through the second quarter causing teammate and free-agent Natasha Cloud to accuse the officials of losing control of the game.

Two of Sunday’s games were carried by NBC platforms, a return from televising games in the early years of the WNBA and introduced retired Hall of Famers Sue Bird and Cheryl Miller as part of the NBC studio crew.

The network pulled a surprise “good luck” live video greeting from Miller’s brother, retired NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller and her two young nieces.

Fever Handle Storm

Indiana jumped in front with a 15-0 run in the first period spurred by Clark who had 17 by the half, the game total by teammates Kelsey Mitchell and reserve Sophie Cunningham.

Seattle’s Natisha Hiedman, a free agent from Minnesota, had 19 points, first-round pick Flau’jae Johnson out of LSU scored 14, Zia Cook scored 13 and Jade Melbourne scored 12.

Of her performance, Clark said, “I always take pride being able to set my teammates up for success. That allows our team to really get flowing, and I can do a really good job of that.

“I only played 23 minutes tonight, and I had 10 assists, so I think it shows the potential of what this team can do offensively. They’ve got to make the shots for me to get the assist, so half of it is them, and I’ve got to set them up for success. “

Indiana coach Stephanie White said of what is improved in Clark’s start to her comeback season, “I think you can see it, not just in taking off with the ball in her hands, but you can see it in the lift in her shot. She looks strong. She looks loaded in her actions. You can tell by the way she gets to the free line, too. So, I just think her movement patterns and her burst are back.“

White didn’t reveal much on Boston’s status, terming the move to rest her as one of caution.

Aces Nip Dream

Las Vegas is on a four-game streak after dropping its opener as Gray’s winning shot gave her 21 points, just ahead of the 20 by Wilson and Chennedy Carter, who as a free-agent signee is averaging 19.4 points after not picked by any of the now 15 teams (13 active in 2025) last season.

NaLyssa Smith had 13 points, all but two in the second half, while Jackie Young, who had seven assists, was 0-for-12 from the field, including 0-for-5 from deep, her first scoreless game since 2020.

Atlanta had a deep deficit until launching a 16-0 run completed by Te-Hina Paopao’s 3-pointer that brought the Dream within a point with 2:16 left in regulation.

Atlanta went in front 84-83 on Jordin Canada’s shot with 36 seconds left and then Gray missed a shot, but a tie-up gave the Aces possession for her game-winner.

Third-year pro Angel Reese, who came to Atlanta in a deal with Chicago, was deprived of her ongoing double-double attack, held to nine points on 1-for-8 from the field, and eight boards but also committing eight turnovers.

Paopao had 19 points, rookie Madina Okot out of South Carolina had her second double-double with 14 points and 11 caroms, while Canada scored 11 points and had seven steals.

On injury row, Rhyne Howard (concussion protocol) and Brionna Jones (knee) were sidelined for Atlanta and the visitors missed Dana Evans (leg) and Janiah Barker (concussion protocol).

“That’s who she is,” Hammon said of Gray. “The bigger the moment, the bigger she gets.”

Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said of the game by Reese, “I expect her to be a big impact player. What I see every day is someone working really hard in practice, who wants to learn, who asks for extra film.

“She has the athletic tools to be one of the best players and she’s motivated to become one of the best players. I think through the course of the season you’ll get to see her get more comfortable within our style of play, it’s definitely a transition when you go from one team to another, and you have to learn a whole new system.”

Tempo Bests Sparks

Besides Sykes’ night, rookie Kiki Rice, making her first start near her UCLA national champion alma mater, scored 19 points, while Marina Marbrey scored 14 and Kia Nurse 10 in a game Toronto shot 39-of-42 at the line, Sykes a perfect 15-for-15.

L.A,’s Kelsey Plum scored 28, Dearica Hamby collected 19, Nneka Ogwumike scored 17, and Kate Martin, the former Iowa star recently signed as a development player after cut by Golden State, scored 11.

The Sparks were 23-for-30 from the line as referees continue to call things tight in a move to gain more player movement.

Indiana’s Clark said of the officiating, “I think for our team, defensively, we need to adjust. We foul all the time. And Steph’s told us in the locker room, they’re fouls. And we are fouling, and they’re going to call it. So, we need to stop fouling.”

Unlike Friday night when Toronto trailed 19-2, the Tempo broke from an 18-18 tie leading the rest of the way in front of a crowd that included UCLA coach Cori Close, who shot video of Rice, her former player.

“We started very poorly, still sleeping, think I said that,” Toronto coach Sandy Brondello compared the two games.

“Today, we were very more connected. I was confident going into the game, if we stayed together and executed.”

Sky Deals Lynx

Kamilla Cordoso behind Jaquez’ night had 11 points and 12 boards, Rachel Banham added 13 points, the newly acquired Cloud scored 11 and dealt seven helpers, and Jacy Nelson scored 10.

It was a four-point game with 1:44 left after Courtney Williams scored from deep for Minnesota and Natasha Howard scored a layup, but Jaquez came back with a three to make it 83-76.

Minnesota’s Kayla McBride scored 20 and Howard 17 with nine boards and seven assists.

Williams finished with 17 points while second overall pick Olivia Miles in last month’s draft had 13 points and four steals.

Skylar Diggins with an eye injury was sidelined for Chicago while Minnesota’s whose elite Napheesa Collier isn’t due back from elite surgery until next month, began life the rest of the way without Emma Cechova who suffered an ACL injury in the recent win in Dallas.

Of the loss of Chicago’s Jackson, who came in a trade this season with the Sparks and due for an MRI on Monday, Cloud said, “On top of the points of emphasis that were emphasized at the beginning of the season, their ultimate job is to control and protect the players in this game. And I think about this group today failed to do so. Truthfully, I think it’s bull…

“You can be mad at me if you want to, but I’ll be damned if we keep getting players hurt in this league on any team because we refuse to control the game.”

Chicago has been on the road to start the season ahead of Wednesday’s home opener.

“We’re all extremely pleased and proud to come away with this road trip 3-1 and looking forward to getting back home,” said Chicago coach Tyler Marsh.

Off the loss, Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the native of South Jersey, said, “Repeatedly, we have fouled since training camp.

“I think we talked about fouling before the game and where did we lose the game? Fouling,” Reeve said.

“We gave ourselves a chance. We didn’t quit, kept fighting …  Chicago’s a better team than we are right now. When I watched video, I was struck by their cohesion. their identity, defensively,” she continued.

“Very, very strong. Give them credit. They had us out of sorts and unaware and how to play against them. It’s good for us. This was good for Olivia Miles. This was good for all of them. It’s not easy. We’re not going to sit there and yell, ‘referees, referees.’ There’s physicality. And it’s legal. And we gotta figure out how to do the same thing.”

Looking Ahead

The NBC Sports Network and Peacock come back Monday night at 8 p.m. for Washington’s visit to Dallas followed at 10 p.m. on League Pass when Connecticut visits Portland.

A single game Tuesday has Phoenix hosting expansion Toronto at 10 p.m. on League Pass while on Wednesday USA airs Indiana hosting expansion Portland at 7 p.m. and Chicago hosting Dallas at 9 p.m. before Connecticut visits Seattle at 10 p.m. on League Pass.