In tonight’s disheartening home loss at the hands of the visiting Indiana Fever, Angel Reese recorded her 23rd double-double. She stacked up late points, ending the disappointing night with 10 points and 11 rebounds. While her double-doubles are the most by any WNBA player to date in the history of the league, she also added another feather to her cap. With her 11th board, she surpassed Tina Charles for the most rebounds by a rookie. The Hall-of-Fame WNBA star collected 398 rebounds back in 2010. Angel Reese now tallies 399 boards, with nine more games to go until the 28th WNBA season ends.

However, the reward came at the high price of being defeated at home with Shaquille O’Neal in attendance. Now, Chicago has suffered six losses in seven games since the break. They are also just one loss away from dropping out of playoff contention if the postseason started today. On the other hand, the Atlanta Dream is pushing for a playoff berth. If they win over the Las Vegas Aces tonight, they will replace the Sky for the eighth and final spot. 

With so much urgency in the game being ignored just to add to personal accolades, the fans are understandably frustrated.

Chicago finds another reason not to love their lottery pick Angel Reese

It’s interesting to note how Teresa Weatherspoon made a last-minute trade back in April to get the former Lady Tiger on her squad. After that, the entire city, which loves great basketball players, celebrated the move. However, it seems Angel Reese has lost her appeal to a significant portion of the fanbase. As the game slipped away from the home crowd, WNBA followers couldn’t help but compare the two rookies.

Angel Reese is already far ahead of any WNBA player in terms of double-doubles and rebounding average. She also has nine more games to play this season, proving that she could have easily broken Charles’ record by the next game. However, she was the only Sky player fighting until the end, while the Fever had already cleared their bench four minutes before the game ended.

Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark also set a season-high scoring mark for herself while grabbing multiple records. With tonight’s win, the first-overall pick surpassed Courtney Vandersloot for the most 20+ point and 10+ assist games, a record set in 2017. Clark also had her third 30+ point game tonight, which led to Indiana’s victory. Reflecting on all this, some X users suggested that Reese was simply stat-padding–“She would have gotten the record anyway, but instead she stays in the game against the bench down by 19. She got 5 of her 10 points chasing that stat. CC also set a record, but got the WIN.” There is also another comment like, “She stayed in, just to pad stats. Fever benched their starters, already.”

Tonight was not the best night for Chicago’s post players. Specifically, Angel Reese only shot 4 of 9 from the field and 0 of 1 from beyond the arc. Still, she worked in the final minutes to secure the double-double. While she also fouled the Fever players during this span, she was only 2 of 5 from the stripe. These numbers show how she struggled to perform tonight, except when the Sky had already lost the game, something one women’s basketball follower commented on: “Angel didn’t do a single thing all game. Then suddenly when they’re down 25 in the last 3 minutes and 3 pts away from a double double she starts playing 110%  What a joke.”

Reflecting on the same, another fan remarked, “lol. Down 29 with 3 mins left. All starters exit except her to get her double double with a minute and a half left.”

With four minutes left in the game and Indiana already securing their victory, Caitlin Clark left the floor along with the other starters. For her double-double with 31 points and 12 assists, the Wintrust Arena crowd couldn’t help but give her their respect. The home of the Sky roared to cheer on the Fever rookie, while on the other hand, Angel Reese continued to chase stats for the record. A fan mentioned this and pointed out the difference between the two rookies: “CC gets a standing ovation in ARs home arena while AR is chasing around stats in a blowout loss.”

On the court or off it, it was definitely not Angel Reese’s night. The rookie also couldn’t celebrate her themed “Barbie Night” due to the loss. However, hopefully, this will be a reminder for the forward to pick up her game like she did early in the season. For now, the Sky will travel to Minnesota to face the Lynx.

Stay tuned for more updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show,” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.