International Courant
NEW YORK– Caitlin Clark has been named WNBA Rookie of the 12 months by a near-unanimous vote, giving the Indiana Fever back-to-back winners after Aliyah Boston gained the dignity final season.
A nationwide panel of sportswriters and sportscasters gave Clark 66 of the 67 votes launched Thursday. Chicago Sky ahead Angel Reese obtained the opposite.
Clark, the No. 1 general select of Iowa, averaged 19.2 factors and a league-best 8.4 assists per sport whereas serving to the WNBA set attendance information and achieve mainstream consideration. She struggled a bit early within the season, however discovered her ft and was an All-Star starter. The unanimous AP Rookie of the 12 months led the Fever to the playoffs for the primary time since 2016 and a 20-20 document after a 1-8 begin.
“I’m a tough pupil. I really feel like I had a stable yr,” Clark mentioned after the Fever had been eradicated within the first spherical of the playoffs. “For me, the great factor about it’s that I really feel like I am simply scratching the floor and I am the one who decides all the pieces I do. I do know I need to assist this franchise. … I do know there’s numerous room for me to proceed to enhance, so that is what excites me probably the most. I really feel like I am getting higher and higher.”
Clark wasn’t named to the U.S. Olympic staff — a call that upset her legions of followers — however she confirmed within the weeks that adopted that she might need been useful. The Fever guard averaged 24.7 factors and 9.3 assists in her first 10 video games after the Olympic break and led Indiana to an 8-2 document.
Clark was named Japanese Convention Participant of the Month for August, was Participant of the Week 3 times and Rookie of the Month 4 occasions. She recorded the primary two triple-doubles by a rookie in WNBA historical past, set a league single-game document with 19 assists and have become the primary rookie to have not less than 30 factors and 10 assists in a sport.
Clark led the league with 122 three-pointers, ranked second with 90.6% accuracy from the free throw line and averaged 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals. She set a league single-season document with 337 assists and set a rookie document of 769 factors and 122 made three-pointers.
Reese averaged 13.6 factors and 13.1 rebounds for the Sky.
Off the court docket, Clark, Reese and their fellow rookies had been a scores and attendance achieve for the WNBA. Six totally different league TV companions set viewership information for the most-watched WNBA sport this yr. All of those video games comprise the Fever.
Indiana led the league at house and on the street. The fever averaged 17,036 at house and greater than 15,000 on the street. 4 groups moved house video games to bigger arenas as Indiana got here to city to accommodate extra followers.
Regardless of Indiana’s blowout loss to Connecticut in Sport 1Followers tuned in as the sport drew a median of 1.8 million viewers, in accordance with ESPN, making it the WNBA’s most-watched playoff sport because the 2000 finals. It was the most-watched playoff sport on ESPN ever, regardless of battling the N.F.L.
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Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark was virtually unanimously voted WNBA’s Rookie of the 12 months
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