UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Alyssa Thomas had no idea that she was closing in on taking back the WNBA's single-season assist record.
She was just focused on trying to help her team win and improve their playoff positioning.
She topped Caitlin Clark's mark of 337 assists set last season, but Thomas' Mercury came up short against the Connecticut Sun on Saturday, falling 87-84.
“Honestly I didn't know that I was even close,” Thomas said. “I didn't focus on that, but definitely credit to my teammates I can't do it without them. It's been a great change for me this year with a new offense that just allows me to go out there and make the reads that I need to make.”
Thomas needed six assists coming into Saturday's game against Connecticut, where she starred for so many years before leaving for Phoenix this season as a free agent.
“It was my home for 11 years and it was awesome to be able to do it in front of them,” Thomas said. “It all started here so yeah it's cool, a full-circle moment.”
She got the record-breaking one on a 3-pointer by Kathryn Westbeld in the corner with 4:45 left in the second quarter. She finished the game with 10 to give her 342 this season.
“I've been fortunate to be surrounded by so many great 3-point shooters so they make my job easy,” Thomas said. “I hit the open person and the rest is on them to hit the shot. Credit to them they have my back like that.”
Thomas held the record in 2023 with 316 assists when she played for Connecticut. Clark broke it a year later as a rookie. Now the 33-year-old Thomas, who also holds the WNBA record for triple-doubles in a season and career, has it back again. She only needed 37 games to reclaim that mark.
What's most impressive about Thomas' accomplishment is that she's done it from the forward position. Ever since her time with the Sun, Thomas has been a point-forward, facilitating the Mercury's offense. Many of her assists this year have come on 3-pointers with nearly half of them coming on shots from behind the arc.
She's seventh on the league's career assist list with more than 1,800 assists — the only forward in the top 10.
Thomas has averaged a career-best 9.2 assists this season, which is short of Courtney Vandersloot's record of 9.95 set in 2020.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas dribbles the ball during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Indiana Fever, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.
Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.
“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.
But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
