TCU Star Olivia Miles Makes WNBA History

Former TCU women’s basketball star Olivia Miles just gave Horned Frogs fans another reason to brag.

Miles, now a rookie guard for the Minnesota Lynx, torched the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday night, drilling a WNBA rookie-record eight 3-pointers in an 87-84 win.

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The No. 2 overall pick went 8-of-11 from deep, finished with a season-high 28 points, and added seven assists and four rebounds.

That’s not a rookie finding her way. That’s a rookie detonating.

Miles entered the game just 2-of-18 from 3-point range through her first nine WNBA games.

Then she flipped the switch and put her name above Caitlin Clark and Crystal Robinson, who previously shared the rookie mark with seven 3s in a game.

“It’s just a testament to my mindset and my confidence,” Miles said. “It’s a lot of inner work to go and believe in yourself and constantly remind yourself that you deserve to be where you’re at. The support that I have here to go out there and hoop and be myself, it just allows me to be comfortable.”

TCU saw this version of Miles before. Last season, she buried a college-career-best 10 3-pointers against Baylor in an 83-67 win.

Before her time with the Horned Frogs, Miles played at Notre Dame, where she once hit eight 3s against Pittsburgh. She finished her college career with 198 made 3-pointers.

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve had to laugh at the sudden explosion.

“The last few games, we feel like she’s got opportunities to shoot the ball,” Reeve said. “She’s a good shooter ... and so we had been trending toward her being confident to take shots. Once she saw a couple go down, it felt like she was playing Baylor again, I guess.”

That Baylor line should hit beautifully in Fort Worth.

Miles didn’t just score, either. She scored or assisted on 44 of Minnesota’s 87 points.

Through 10 career WNBA games, she has scored or assisted on 317 points, trailing only Paige Bueckers’ 318 for the most to start a WNBA career. Clark had 312 through her first 10 games.

Veteran guard Kayla McBride, whose Lynx franchise record of eight 3s Miles matched, knows what Minnesota has.

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“It’s great for us,” McBride said of Miles. “She has so many things she can offer us on both ends of the floor.”

TCU already knew that. Now the WNBA does, too.

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