The WNBA record of nine 3-pointers in a game is close to being shot down. And Rhyne Howard is among the candidates.

Boston Globe

3 hours ago

Howard finished with record-tying nine 3-pointers, capping a 36-point breakout performance in a win against the Chicago Sky on Saturday.
Howard became the fourth player in WNBA history to knock down nine threes in a game.
Indiana's
Kelsey Mitchell
was the first to do it, when she went 9 for 13 from deep in a win over Connecticut in 2019.
Jewell Loyd
did it in 2023 with Seattle, drilling 9 of 16 in a loss to Washington.
Arike Ogunbowale
did it last season for Dallas, going 9 for 16 in a loss to Indiana.
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As close as Howard came to setting herself apart, she didn't seem like she missed a rare opportunity.
'I had 10 misses that I could've got it,' she said. 'It's going to come. I ain't worried.'
Knocking down 10 3-pointers doesn't impossible to Howard, it feels inevitable.
With good reason.
A day after Howard's shooting clinic,
Caitlin Clark
returned to the court after missing two weeks with a left quadriceps strain. She drained seven 3-pointers like she never missed a beat. The highlight was a spree of three in 38 seconds, each one increasingly outrageous.
'I took one in transition, that's kind of where I like to get to early,' Clark said. 'It's always good to see the ball go through the hoop. Then I came down and shot another one, then came down and shot another one and saw three in a row go in, so that gives you a lot of confidence.'
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At every level and in every league, the 3-pointer has elevated from an accessory to an essential. The WNBA is no different. In 2014, teams averaged 14.1 3-point attempts per game. This season, they're averaging 24.9.
That means the kinds of 3-point binges that Howard and Clark went on last weekend aren't as rare as they once were.
Respected as much for her shooting as her shot-blocking as one of just two players with 200 3-pointers and 300 blocked shots, Utah Starzz forward
Elena Baranova
was the first player to make seven 3-pointers in a game, in 1997. Since then, it's happened 92 times, and 26 of those outbursts have happened in the last three seasons.
The single-game record is very much in reach. The career record of 1,447 that
Diana Taurasi
left behind when she retired over the winter is another story.
Taurasi never made nine threes in one game. But she made eight — on four occasions, not including the time she did it against the Las Vegas Aces in the 2021 playoffs.
Howard became the fastest to reach 300 3-pointers, and along with Clark,
Sabrina
Ionescu
, and Ogunbowale, she's on pace to get eventually catch Taurasi. But it'll be a long climb.
Appointment viewing
Commissioner's Cup, Tuesday: Dream vs. Liberty, 7 p.m.; Sun vs. Fever, 7 p.m.; Aces vs. Lynx, 8 p.m.; Valkyries vs. Wings, 8 p.m.; Storm vs. Sparks, 10 p.m.
Thefifth iteration of the WNBA's in-season tournament has some intrigue going into the final slate of games before the championship on July 1.
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The Liberty, Dream, and Fever — all 3-1 in Cup games — are in the mix in the East. Meanwhile, the Lynx (4-1) , Storm (3-2), and the expansion Valkyries (3-2) will be keeping an eye on each other in the West.
In the simplest scenario, Minnesota and Atlanta win and face each other for the championship. In the trickiest scenario, there's a two-way tie atop the East and a three-way tie in the West.
Tiebreakers are decided by the head-to-head Cup matchups and point differential.
Atlanta beat Indiana last Tuesday, so the Dream own that tiebreaker. Seattle beat Minnesota last Wednesday. But Indiana beat New York Saturday.
Here's each team's championship game scenario:
Atlanta's in:
With a win.
Atlanta's out:
With a loss.
New York's in:
With a win and an Indiana loss.
New York's out:
With a loss or with a win and an Indiana win.
Indiana's in:
With a win and a New York win.
Indiana's out:
With a loss or with a win and an Atlanta loss.
Minnesota's in:
With a win.
Minnesota's out:
With a Seattle win and a Golden State loss. A three-way tie would come down to point differential.
Seattle's in:
With a win, a Minnesota loss, and a Golden State loss. A three-way tie would come down to point differential.
Seattle's out:
With a Minnesota win. A three-way tie would come down to point differential.
Golden State's in:
With a win, a Seattle win, and a Minnesota loss by a margin 43 points fewer than Golden State's win.
Golden State's out:
With a loss or with a Minnesota win. A three-way-tie way tie would come down to point differential.
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Who's hooping?
Seven players dropped 30 in a game last week, including
Paige Bueckers
(35) and Clark (32) in their returns. But here are the two standouts from Week 3:
Jackie Young:
After a slow start, Young is getting settled in Las Vegas. She matched a career high with 34 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists, but that was in a loss to the Sparks. Two nights later, her 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists fueled a win over Dallas.
Allisha Gray:
Showing no signs of cooling off, Gray had a career-high 32 points in a win over the Mystics. She went 10 of 14 from the floor, 6 for 9 on 3-pointers, and 6 for 7 from the free throw line. She's averaging 21.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists and the Dream have the third-best record in the league.
Julian Benbow can be reached at