Candace Parker became the sixth player in WNBA history to record a triple double on Friday night, July 28, 2017. She had to wait ten years since being selected as the first pick in the 2008 WNBA draft.
This was the first triple double of WNBA since Temeka Johnson’s in July 2014.
She achieved this feat during a WNBA match between Los Angeles Sparks and San Antonio Stars, in which the Sparks won 85-73 against the stars in an entertaining match. With 6 minutes and 33 seconds left to play in the fourth quarter, she was already threatening a stats line of three double digits.
She scored her ninth point and got one from the line - to make it to ten points - due to a foul on her by Dearica Hamby. This gave her the seventh double-double leaving her with an assist away from a #triple double.
With 3 minutes and 47 seconds to play she entered the WNBA history books when her nifty assist from the left wing found Jantel Lavender who made no mistake but scored Sparks’ 77th point. At this point, she was at 10 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. Her 11th point came from the free throw line with 3 minutes 10 seconds to play. The two other rebounds came in the last 1 minute 57 seconds and 1 minute 15 seconds respectively, and her final assist of the night was to Elena Beard with 1 minute 38 seconds left to play.
It was also a night that saw Odyssey Sims, the Sparks' point guard, record a career high of 22 points. Kayla McBride shone for the San Antonio Stars, netting 20 points. She also shot 100% from the free throw line, netting 8 out of 8. Kelsey Plum of the Stars and Odyssey Sims also had 100% shooting from the line - netting 6 out of 6 and 3 out of 3 respectively.
Other women in the triple double club
They include Shery Swoopes of the Houston Comets, Margo Dydek of the Utah Starzz, Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks, Deanna Nolan of the Detroit Shock and Temeka Johnson of the Seattle Storm.
Earlier, Layshia Clarendon of the Atlanta Dream appeared to have recorded a triple double on the night of July 25, 2017, against Phoenix Mercury.
She had it rescinded because 2 assists were taken away in a league review. This left her with a statistics line of 15 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
Candace Parker has been named the Western Conference player of the week for the third time this season, for games played July 24-30. She closed the week with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a win against Dallas Wings on Sunday. But the highlight of the week was her triple-double at the AT&T centre where also her first career high of 20 came against San Antonio in 2014.
