Angel Reese makes WNBA history as fastest player to 1,000 rebounds

The Atlanta Dream star reached the milestone in just 79 games as Atlanta defeated the Indiana Fever in a franchise-record scoring performance.

Angel Reese is collecting rebounds and receipts.

The Atlanta Dream forward made WNBA history on Saturday, becoming the fastest player in league history to reach 1,000 career rebounds during the Dream’s 113-96 win over the Indiana Fever at State Farm Arena.

Reese reached the milestone in her 79th WNBA game, breaking the previous mark held by Tina Charles by 10 games. For a player whose game has been debated, picked apart and meme’d more than most, the moment was another reminder that Reese’s production has never needed much explaining. The numbers are speaking loudly enough.

Reese finished the game with 18 points and eight rebounds, helping Atlanta improve to 11-4 while earning its second win over Indiana in three days. The Dream also set a franchise record for points scored, giving the historic moment an even bigger stage.

And yes, the game came against Caitlin Clark and the Fever, which will naturally fuel the internet’s favorite storyline. But Reese’s milestone deserves to stand on its own. Her rebounding is not a side note to anybody else’s star power. It is star power.

Reese has dealt with being compared to Clark since college, when her LSU championship run turned her into both a household name and a lightning rod. However, In the WNBA, she has continued to build a résumé that makes it harder to reduce her to narratives that have little to do with basketball.

Rebounding is effort. It is timing. It is physicality. It is knowing where the ball is going before everybody else does. It is doing the unglamorous work that wins games, then doing it so consistently that the league has no choice but to call it history.

“I think people don’t realize rebounding is harder than you think,” Reese said after the game, according to ESPN. She explained that offensive rebounds create second-chance opportunities, giving her team more possessions and more chances to score.

That was the story for Atlanta on Saturday. Rhyne Howard led the Dream with 24 points, Allisha Gray added 22, and Naz Hillmon contributed 19 as Atlanta turned a three-point halftime deficit into a double-digit win. The Dream outscored Indiana 28-15 in the third quarter, the same period when Reese secured her record-setting board.

Clark led Indiana with 26 points, while Kelsey Mitchell added 16. But after the Fever went into halftime up 59-56, Atlanta took control in the second half and never gave it back.

For Reese, the milestone adds to a young career already full of records. Now in her first season with the Dream, the former LSU star has continued to establish herself as one of the WNBA’s most relentless interior players.

And while some fans may still argue about what her game is or is not, Reese keeps showing up, crashing the glass and making history one rebound at a time.

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