NEW YORK (AP) — Caitlin Clark was named WNBA rookie of the year in a near-unanimous vote, giving the Indiana Fever back-to-back winners after Aliyah Boston won the honor last season.

A national panel of sportswriters and sports reporters gave Clark 66 of 67 votes in the vote released Thursday. Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese received the other.

“I am incredibly honored to be named Rookie of the Year, but more than that, I am grateful to everyone who supported me this past season – my family and friends, my teammates, the Fever organization and everyone who supported us cheered us on.” Season. I am so proud of what we have accomplished and excited about the future,” Clark said in a statement.

Clark, the No. 1 overall pick out of Iowa, averaged 19.2 points and a league-best 8.4 assists per game, helping the WNBA set attendance records and capture mainstream attention. She struggled a bit early in the season, but found her rhythm and was an all-star starter. The unanimous AP Rookie of the Year led the Fever to the playoffs for the first time since 2016, posting a 20-20 record after a 1-8 start.

“I am a tough student. I feel like I had a solid year,” Clark said after the Fever were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. “For me, the fun of it is that I feel like I’m just scratching the surface and I’m the one who doesn’t choose everything I do. I know I want to help this franchise. … I know there is still a lot of room for me to continue to improve and that is what excites me the most. I feel like I continue to get much better.”

Clark wasn’t selected for the U.S. Olympic team — a decision that disappointed her legions of fans — but she showed in the weeks after that she might have been helpful. The Fever guard averaged 24.7 points and 9.3 assists in his first 10 games after the Olympic break, leading Indiana to an 8-2 record.

Clark was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for August, was Player of the Week three times and Rookie of the Month four times. She recorded the first two triple-doubles by a rookie in WNBA history, set a league single-game record with 19 assists, and became the first rookie to score at least 30 points and 10 assists in a game.

Clark led the league with 122 3-pointers, was second with a 90.6% shooting percentage from the free throw line, and averaged 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals. She set a league single-season record with 337 assists and set a rookie record of 769 points and 122 three-pointers made.

Reese averaged 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds for the Sky.

Off the field, Clark, Reese and their fellow rookies were a ratings and viewership boon for the WNBA. Six different league television partners set viewership records for the most-watched WNBA game this year. All of these games involved the Fever.

Indiana led the league both home and away. Fever averaged 17,036 at home and more than 15,000 while away. When Indiana came to town, four teams moved their home games to larger arenas to accommodate more fans.

Despite Indiana’s disastrous loss to Connecticut in Game 1Fans tuned in as the game averaged 1.8 million viewers, according to ESPN, making it the WNBA’s most-watched playoff game since the 2000 Finals. It was the most-watched playoff game ever on ESPN, even though it was against the NFL.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball