INDIANAPOLIS— Probably the only athlete in America with her own tribute corn maze, Caitlin Clark keeps breaking through boundaries, and sometimes even on the basketball court.

In the same week Clark drew attention by liking a Taylor Swift Instagram post urging people to vote that went out to 283 million people, Clark also broke the WNBA’s single-season record for assists – as a rookie.

The corn maze thing is unique, however, and the farmers who made it out of a field picked the right gal for appreciation. Clark, 22, is from Iowa, where they know from corn – and where kids know from corn mazes.

Freedman

Certainly, Clark not only thought the gesture was cool, but after viewing a photo of the work at the County Line Orchard in Hobart, 150 miles north of Indy, she was impressed with the craftsmanship of the image.

The maze portrays Clark wearing her No. 22 Indiana Fever jersey, cradling a basketball on her right shoulder. Given that this is hardly an oil painting, it is a pretty good likeness in the land of the most publicized hoopster across the land. She is smiling and a heart is carved into the landscape, too.

As Clark has done in giving respect to all opposing players and team foes this season, she provided props to corn mazes, too.

“Corn mazes are a lot more difficult than people probably think if you’ve never done one,” she said, “like it’s easy to get lost in there. Kinda scary if you’re not with people. I guess if I have time after the season ends, maybe, hopefully, I can get there.”

Sunday’s meet-up with the Dallas Wings was the last home game for the Fever, with the last game for the 19-19 playoff-bound team Thursday night at the Washington Mystics.

But the Fever, who have not been to the playoffs since 2016, would love to extend the season until Columbus Day, Halloween or whenever by playoff winning.

After last week losing two straight to the Las Vegas Aces, the two-time league defending champion, 86-75, and 78-74, the Fever settled into sixth place.

The powerful Aces, who feature two-time MVP A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, all 2024 Olympic gold medalists, are the only team the Fever did not defeat at least once this season.

In the first game, Wilson, a double-double machine averaging around 27 points a game, set a new single-season league scoring record. She carried 971 points into the last week of the regular season, lining her up to become the first one-year, 1,000-point scorer in WNBA history.

Coach Christie Sides said the Fever would approach the two-game set with Vegas like a playoff series measuring stick. The performances demonstrated the Fever is capable of sticking with the best teams, but cannot count on any easy victories.

At times the Fever had defensive lapses, offensive failures, and in the second game, the free-throwing shooting was a horror show, hitting just 11 out of 20 tries.

“Make those free throws and it changes the game,” Sides said.

Maybe so. At times, Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell can lift fans – a lot of them in those 17,274-person sellouts – from their seats with her usual 20 points, accumulated on arcing three-pointers, or swift drives.

Losing the tough games to the Aces was instructive, if not as valuable as a W, she said.

“It’s a good step in the right direction,” Mitchell said.

Clark had a rare truly down stretch with zero points in the first half of the second Aces contest, but still scored 18. She also broke the single-season WNBA assists record in the first Las Vegas game when she reached 321, cracking the mark held by Alyssa Thomas, the Connecticut Sun Olympian. Thomas remains within shouting distance of Clark this season, though.

Clark dodged boasting and spoke of that moment in the context of Fever and WNBA popularity spurred by the rookie class.

“I think it definitely speaks to the whole, entire year and how historic it has been for this league and how great the basketball has been for the league, and we’re not even into the playoffs yet,” Clark said. “I think that’s what’s so fun about it, is you’re just going to see records be taken down.”

Originally, it was announced on the scoreboard and in the distributed box score Clark had 10 assists in the second game. Then, upon further review, with no explanation, one assist was subtracted. You don’t see that every day.

WNBA players have long had a reputation for social activism, so Clark “liking” Taylor Swift’s Instagram was not so wild. Swift promptly endorsed Kamala Harris for president the minute after her debate with Donald Trump ended, but Clark stuck to the get-out-and-vote message.

“I think, for myself, I have this amazing platform, so I think the biggest thing would be to encourage people to register to vote.”

Maybe Clark will give an official thumbs-up to the corn maze.