Connecticut Sun star Tina Charles reached yet another WNBA statistical landmark in her illustrious career.
Tina Charles put up some historic fun for the Sun in the midst of another heartbreaking, if not productive, defeat.
Though the Connecticut Sun dropped a 79-65 decision to the Seattle Storm on Friday night, Charles made another bit of history: successful free throws in the second quarter allowed her to become the second player in WNBA history to reach the 8,000-point plateau, joining Diana Taurasi in the exclusive club.
It’s yet another accolade on Charles’ impressive hardwood resume, which carries almost every women’s basketball honor there is to obtain with the exception of a WNBA championship. Charles officially ended the night with 20 tallies to bring her career total to 8,012, pairing them with 10 rebounds to create her 197th double-double. That extended the WNBA record she holds over Sylvia Fowles, and Friday opponent Nneka Ogwumike is her closest competitor in the department at 113.
Charles, 36, has continued to update her resume since sitting out the entire 2023 WNBA season: in last year’s return with the Atlanta Dream, Charles became the Association’s all-time leading rebounder, once again passing Fowles. She also moved past Tina Thompson to become the second-leading scorer, setting the stage for Friday’s landmark.
A Full Circle Moment for Tina Charles
This season has seen Charles return to Connecticut, which has hosted some of her more notable basketball landmarks on both the amateur and professional level: after playing at Christ the King High School in her native New York, Charles formally introduced herself to the national basketball scene with an illustrious career with the Connecticut Huskies, producing two national championships and countless individual honors before the Sun made her the top pick of the 2010 draft.
Charles has since made her way back to the Constitution State after assorted affairs with the New York Liberty, Washington Mystics, Phoenix Mercury, and Seattle Storm. She has been a reliable presence for a rebuilding Sun group packed with young potential. They led for a good bit of Friday’s game before the Storm pulled away in the fourth and previously earned a matinee win over the Pacific Northwesterners on Wednesday at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Charles’ next chance to add to her historic point total lands on Sunday when the Sun wraps up a brief road trip against the Los Angeles Sparks (6 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
