Lines of the Night - 2021 WNBA & Olympics Recap
Looking back at our "Lines of the Night" trends, and how they have changed
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Earlier this WNBA season, we recapped our “Lines of the Night” posts, discussing the interesting trends, facts, & everything in-between. Now that the Chicago Sky have been crowned champions, we can recap the entire season including Olympic performances. In case you have forgotten how we come up with the top three stat-lines from a given night: It’s all about overall contribution across all stats (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals); it is not a list of the top scorers from each night, but top overall performers.
Let’s take a look back at some of our previous findings, and investigate how they have changed upon the conclusion of the season.
Topping the Leaderboard
Once the season was halted due to the Olympic Break, the Washington Mystics’ Tina Charles had ranked first on “Lines of the Night'' nine times. At that juncture, she led the W in that category. Based on our updated findings, Charles has managed to maintain her regular season lead, ranking first 11 times. However, if we factor in everything (regular season, Olympic break, and postseason), Brittney Griner takes the lead with 13 appearances at the top.
In terms of overall appearances, Tina Charles also led at the break with 13 by July 11th. As we entered the playoffs, Charles and Brittney Griner were tied with 16 total regular-season appearances. But, factoring in the Olympics as well as the playoffs, Griner has the overall lead for 2021 with 25 total appearances on Lines of the Night. Unfortunately for Charles, the Mystics didn’t qualify for the playoffs leading to fewer opportunities to produce top-tier stat-lines.
In our previous recap, the top five players in terms of most times ranked first were:
Tina Charles (9)
Breanna Stewart (7)
Brittney Griner (6)
A’ja Wilson (3)
Tie between: Jonquel Jones, Sylvia Fowles, Courtney Williams, Marina Mabrey, Sabrina Ionescu, and Sami Whitcomb (2)
…and in terms of most appearances:
Tina Charles (13)
Breanna Stewart (11)
Brittney Griner (10)
Jonquel Jones (10)
A’ja Wilson (7)
Regular Season Summary
Top five players in terms of most times ranked first:
Tina Charles (11)
Brittney Griner (10)
Breanna Stewart (9)
Courtney Williams (4)
Tie between: A’ja Wilson, Jonquel Jones, Sylvia Fowles, and Sami Whitcomb (3)
…and in terms of most appearances:
Tie between Tina Charles and Brittney Griner (16)
Breanna Stewart (15)
Jonquel Jones (14)
A’ja Wilson (10)
Regular Season, Playoffs, and Olympics Summary
Top five players in terms of most times ranked first:
Brittney Griner (13)
Tina Charles (11)
Breanna Stewart (10)
Tie between: A’ja Wilson, Candace Parker, Courtney Williams, and Courtney Vandersloot (4)
…and in terms of most appearances:
Brittney Griner (25)
Tie between Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Tina Charles (16)
A’ja Wilson (14)
Something important to note here is the impact of the postseason. Courtney Vandersloot had multiple playoff appearances on “Lines of the Night” after not ranking as highly in the regular season. After a tremendous playoff campaign she has thrust herself into the top five for most times ranked first.
One and Done
In our previous recap, we decided to look into those who ranked first in their only appearance to date. The players who previously satisfied this criteria were:
Sue Bird (5/20) - 21 PTS | 5 REB | 8 AST
Myisha Hines-Allen (6/5) - 32 PTS | 13 REB | 3 AST
Brittney Sykes (7/4) - 19 PTS | 10 REB | 5 AST
Bird, Hines-Allen, and Sykes are no longer alone in this one-and-done category. In fact, there are two additions to this category by way of the Olympic games that occurred this year:
Korea’s Jihyun Park (8/1) - 17 PTS | 7 REB | 5 AST
Australia’s Marianna Tolo (8/2) - 26 PTS | 17 REB | 4 AST
We will be on the lookout for if any of the new additions are possibly signed to a WNBA team this offseason. Out of the two players, Tolo actually has WNBA experience under her belt, as she briefly played for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2015. If either of them are picked up by a team, that will allow them to possibly make an appearance in our 2022 installment of “Lines of the Night”.
Best Lines of the Season
Our “best lines” category is self-explanatory. In the previous recap, we went back and looked for stat-lines that were deemed the best of the season up until that point. Our team had concluded that our top lines to date were:
Tina Charles (6/22) - 34 PTS | 16 REB | 5 AST
Breanna Stewart (5/22) - 36 PTS | 11 REB | 5 BLK
Sylvia Fowles (6/23) - 26 PTS | 19 REB | 5 BLK
Now that all of the action has come to an end, we can add the following stat-lines to the list:
Emma Meeseeman (7/29) - 26 PTS | 15 REB | 6 AST
Marianna Tolo (8/2) - 26 PTS | 17 REB | 4 AST
Sylvia Fowles (8/24) - 29 PTS | 20 REB | 4 STL
Courtney Vandersloot (9/28) - 12 PTS | 10 REB | 18 AST
One thing that has been certain about “Lines of the Night” is multiple players have “showed out” from the beginning of the 2021 WNBA season until the very end. Some of the performances that made the top-three rankings are the stuff of legend. Hopefully, 2022 is as fruitful as 2021. Here are some things our team will look for next year:
Will Brittney Griner continue her statistical domination and produce top-tier stat lines?
With the potential for Emma Meesseman to make a return to the WNBA, how many times will she appear on “Lines of the Night” in 2022?
Which players will rank first in their only appearance? Will it be any of the same players from the 2021 season?
What unique stat-lines will we see next year?
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
In the previous recap, 51 different players had made at least one appearance. Factoring in the Olympic and post-season play, the number is now 77. This list includes players from multiple leagues, countries, teams, and positions. *Parentheticals below reflect the total number of “Lines of the Night” appearances*
Brittney Griner (25)
Tina Charles (16)
Breanna Stewart (16)
Jonquel Jones (16)
A'ja Wilson (14)
Courtney Vandersloot (11)
Courtney Williams (9)
Sylvia Fowles (8)
Skylar Diggins-Smith (8)
Candace Parker (7)
Jewell Loyd (6)
Sabrina Ionescu (6)
Napheesa Collier (6)
Betnijah Laney (6)
Marina Mabrey (5)
Arike Ogunbowale (5)
DeWanna Bonner (5)
Emma Meesseman (4)
Sami Whitcomb (4)
Brionna Jones (4)
Liz Cambage (4)
Tiffany Hayes (4)
Astou Ndour (3)
Diana Taurasi (3)
Kahleah Copper (3)
Chelsea Gray (3)
Teaira McCowan (3)
Brianna Turner (2)
Erica Wheeler (2)
Ji Su Park (2)
Kelsey Plum (2)
Yvonne Anderson (2)
Chennedy Carter (2)
Isabelle Harrison (2)
Jackie Young (2)
Kelsey Mitchell (2)
Natasha Cloud (2)
Theresa Plaisance (2)
Brittney Sykes (1)
Jihyun Park (1)
Marianna Tolo (1)
Myisha Hines-Allen (1)
Sue Bird (1)
Alba Torrens (1)
Aleksandra Crvendakic (1)
Allisha Gray (1)
Alyssa Thomas (1)
Amanda Zahui B (1)
Ariel Atkins (1)
Bridget Carleton (1)
Cristina Ouvina (1)
Crystal Dangerfield (1)
Damiris Dantas (1)
Dearica Hamby (1)
Jessica Breland (1)
Kia Nurse (1)
Kim Mestdagh (1)
Layshia Clarendon (1)
Leeseul Kang (1)
Leilani Mitchell (1)
Lindsay Allen (1)
Natalie Achonwa (1)
Natasha Howard (1)
Nneka Ogwumike (1)
Odyssey Sims (1)
Rebecca Allen (1)
Saki Hayashi (1)
Sandrine Gruda (1)
Satou Sabally (1)
Te'a Cooper (1)
Tiffany Mitchell (1)
Ting Shao (1)
Yueru Li (1)
Diamond DeShields (1)
Gabby Williams (1)
Jelena Brooks (1)
Rui Machida (1)