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Former New York Liberty star Tina Charles, now stationed with the Connecticut Sun, continues to torch certain sections of the WNBA record book.
By sinking the 3,442nd of her WNBA career during Wednesday night’s defeat to the Chicago Sky, Charles became the league’s all-time leader in field goals, passing all-time leader and brief teammate Diana Taurasi. The tally was her third of the night and an 8-of-13 output overall gave her 3,347 in her 14-year showing as she starts the padding: Nneka Ogwumike of the Seattle Storm is the closest active shooter to Charles at 2,859 successful sinks.
Becoming the WNBA’s queen of buckets is the latest accomplishment of Charles’ professional career: the Queens native and Christ the King alum already stands as the WNBA’s all-time leader in rebounds, setting that record as a member of the Atlanta Dream in front of a local crowd in a Brooklyn-based game against the Liberty last fall). Earlier this season, she became the first player in league history to post 200 career double-doubles.
Of Charles’ epic tally, 1,497 of her successful field goals have come with the Liberty and she still stands as the all-time franchise leader in the category. Sabrina Ionescu recently joined her as one of only four to hit 1,000 in New York, joined by Vickie Johnson and Cappie Pondexter. Charles spent six seasons with the Liberty (2014-19) after she was drafted by the Sun following a sterling collegiate career at the University of Connecticut.
Time will tell if Charles, 36, is able to pass Taurasi’s most mainstream mark, the all-time WNBA scoring title. After Thursday. she stands at 8,653 while Taurasi, the career-long desert-dweller with the Phoenix Mercury is the only player in league history to reach double-figures at 10,646. The two previously collaborated with the 2022 Mercury before Charles moved onto the Seattle Storm in the middle of the season.
Charles’ next chance to keep boosting her scoring tallies will land on Saturday afternoon when the Sun, ironically enough, hosts the Mercury (1 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston).
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