Paige Bueckers makes history by achieving a feat that no NBA or WNBA player has done in five decades

The Dallas Wings lost by a narrow margin to the Los Angeles Sparks, 80-81. However, it was a historic night for Paige Bueckers.

Under the watchful eye of fans at Crypto.com Arena, the 23-year-old rookie scored 44 points, reaching a milestone that had not been achieved in nearly six decades, both in the WNBA and the NBA.

Paige makes history

The Wings point guard was completely confident and inspired against her opponent. With her 44 points, she became the player who has scored the most points in a game this season. And that wasn’t the only thing she achieved with this milestone.

The truth is that, since her college days, the former UConn player has been turning heads. And it was during her last games before being selected as the first overall pick in the 2025 Draft by the Wings that she scored her highest number of points. Against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Paige scored 40 points on March 29.

Now, almost five months after that milestone, the former UConn star has proven that her transition to professional play has been smooth and successful. Against the Sparks, she scored four more points than she did with the Huskies, leading her to set a scoring record for a WNBA rookie.

As if that weren’t enough, the Wings icon is the first player this century and in more than 50 years to score more than 40 points in both an NCAA Tournament game and an NBA/WNBA game in the same year. The last to achieve this were Elvin Hayes in 1968 and Oscar Robertson in 1960, two established basketball legends.

With her best performance on Wednesday night, she raised her scoring average to 19.7 points per game, 4.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. In addition, Bueckers is shaping up to be one of the favorites for WNBA Rookie of the Year and a candidate for the All-WNBA first team at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, despite his team being virtually eliminated from playoff contention, Paige is preparing for her next home game against the Seattle Storm (18-18) on Friday night.