Caitlin Clark made yet another record for the Indiana Fever franchise with 7 assists in the very first quarter. While the first overall pick had a great night, it was another player who took the crown for the head coach Christie Sides. Indeed, this was Clark’s All-Star teammate Kelsey Mitchell. She contributed a season-high of 28 points to bring Indiana into the winning column, garnering applause from her head coach.

In her postgame press conference, Christie Sides shared her thoughts on Mitchell who added eight more points than Caitlin Clark. She praised the veteran, “Kelsey is one of the most dynamic guards in this league. One of the best guards in this league. She is playing so efficient right now with the players that are around her. She is a professional basketball player and does her job every day. Really proud of her consistency and what she’s done for us. Yeah, just a dynamic dynamic guard that can get downhill and create, finish at the rim, kick the shooters, she just collapses the defense.”

Certainly, Kelsey Mitchell is filling up the shoes quite well as a scoring leader for the young Indiana. In fact, even before her arrival for the opening game this season, Sides was thrilled to have the offensive maestro on the team along with the rookie Caitlin Clark. Then, she mentioned, “Kelsey just brings a whole different dynamic and speed to this game. So, it’s just gonna take some time to get used to what she does and put it all together.”

In this season’s 24 games for the Fever, Mitchell has displayed her ability to set the pace according to her. More often than not, she has also grabbed a rebound and ran across the court to grab a fast break bucket.

How did Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell perform tonight?

The two starting guards for the Fever combined for a whopping 48 points of Indiana’s 95 points for the night. The 5-ft-8 guard contributed 28 points and 3 rebounds. She went 11 of 19 from the field and 3 of 10 from beyond the arc. One of those threes was to increase Indiana’s lead with just 1:33 minutes left in the regulation. This was after Mercury’s Kahleah Copper took charge in the late third quarter. The opposing team’s guard made a comeback for Phoenix and scored 23 of 36 for the night in the second half.

As for Caitlin Clark, she tied her career-high 13 assists for the third time tonight. The Des Moines native contributed 20 points and 6 rebounds for Indiana’s home win. With this stat line, she also became the first rookie in the WNBA to log two games with 20+ points and 10+ assists in a season. She left Angel McCoughtry behind who had one such game back in 2009.

Overall, while Indiana had a great run in the first three quarters, they lost the motivation in the last 12 minutes. However, the young team quickly bounced back to keep a lead of 9 points in the end, sending Phoenix home with another defeat.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.