Triple Double alert! Layshia Clarendon becomes sixth WNBA player to reach mark

The three WNBA all-stars, Tiffany Hayes, Layshia Clarendon, and Elizabeth Williams, returned to McCamish Pavilion with the Atlanta Dream (10-11) to take on the Phoenix Mercury (11-10).   Ups and downs, momentum swings and high intensity summed up today’s overtime Dream 99-91 victory.

As exciting as the team victory was, the triple-double notched by Layshia Clarendon highlighted the night.  Clarendon, who played 38 minutes, finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. If these figures aren’t impressive enough, her zero turnovers made it a seamless career game.

“I didn’t think I played that well so it’s funny I got a triple-double,” Clarendon tells The Summitt. “I was kind of being hard on myself like I wasn’t doing enough for the game.” If this spectacular showing isn’t “doing enough,” the possibilities are endless.

Clarendon’s rise to notoriety is well deserved. She just came off of a double-double at the 2017 WNBA All-Star game in Seattle, where she almost set the all-star assist record, only to be edged by Sue Bird’s 11 assists that night.  It was her first all-star game.

Dominating the league in assists as well as contributing a healthy amount of points per game, Clarendon added 10 rebounds tonight to her already impressive resume.  “I’ve been trying to get [Clarendon] to rebound more and I think that she finally got it now…” Coach Michael Cooper spoke of the expectations of the team’s starting point guard.

Steadiness is key. Clarendon explains that she is “trying to be the most steady person on [her] team” and, as a result, has to be”hyper-aware of…how [she] take[s] care of the ball.”  She has been a steady all-around threat and makes for a star on the Dream this season.

Clarendon joins Sheryl Swoopes, Margo Dydek, Lisa Leslie, Deanna Nolan and Temeka Johnson as one of the prestigious six who have landed triple-doubles.