Rhyne Howard becomes fastest WNBA player to 150 made 3s
Rhyne Howard has made more three-pointers in the WNBA in a shorter amount of time than any other player in the league’s 27-year history.
During the Atlanta Dream’s 78-65 home victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday night, Howard hit her 150th and 151st career three-pointers, needing just 57 games through her first two WNBA seasons to do so. She finished that game with 10 points, three rebounds, and two steals in a season-low 20 minutes played as Atlanta held a comfortable lead throughout most of the contest.
With her 150th made three, the former Kentucky Wildcat superstar became the fastest player ever in league history to break that mark. Howard surpassed Hall of Famers Katie Smith (who needed 65 games to reach 150 made threes), Tamika Catchings (66 games to reach 150), and Cynthia Cooper (66 games to reach 150) as a result.
“She’s that good. She’s a generational talent, you know what I mean. That’s for sure,” Dream head coach Tanisha Wright said of Howard’s accomplishment. “Not too many people like her come through our league so when we see those, we gotta appreciate them in the moment.”
Not counting the upcoming playoffs, which the Dream is projected to make over halfway through the schedule, Howard still has another 17 games left in the season. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the former No. 1 Draft pick hits the 200-made threes mark by the end of her sophomore campaign. Howard will need to make at least 2.9 triples per game over the last 17 regular-season games to do so — she’s making 3.2 per game through 23 games so far this season.
With two more games left in July (@ New York Liberty, vs. Washington Mystics), Howard is going to be in contention to win a Player of the Month Award. Through nine games in July so far, the 6-foot-2 guard is averaging 21.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.9 steals per game on shooting splits of 45.6/40.5/82.9. Atlanta has gone 7-2 during that span after starting the season 6-8.
Howard, who made her second straight WNBA All-Star game roster earlier this summer, is also inching closer to the Dream franchise record of most made three-pointers by one player. She recently surpassed Renee Montgomery’s 146 made triples for third all-time and now trails only Tiffany Hayes (325) and Angel McCoughtry (233). At this rate, Howard should easily move past Hayes before the end of her fourth season.
But that’s not all. Another milestone will soon be hit by Howard. She’s currently at 979 career points, putting her just 21 off the 1,000-point mark. Howard even set her career-high in points earlier this month with 43 against the Los Angeles Sparks. Considering she scored the second-most points in the history of Kentucky basketball (men’s or women’s), none of this comes as much of a surprise.
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