Even in a defeat, Kelsey Mitchell continues to raise the standards of her game. The Indiana Fever broke their four-game winning streak on Thursday after a defeat to the Atlanta Dream. But on an individual level, the night became a special one for Mitchell as she touched a significant three-point milestone.

With her third three-pointer in the Atlanta game, Mitchell touched the tally of 700 made shots from deep. Notably, the Indiana guard is only the eighth player in WNBA history to reach that milestone and has even prompted her franchise and the WNBA to take notice.

The WNBA took to its Instagram handle to share a highlight reel of Mitchell’s 700th three-pointer of her career with a fitting caption.

“KELSEY MITCHELL UNCONSCIOUS 🔥” the caption read.

Meanwhile, the Indiana Fever also shared an appreciation post for Mitchell on their Instagram handle.

“In rare company,” the post read. “Kelsey Mitchell is just the 8th player in @wnba history to reach 700 career threes. Congrats on an incredible accomplishment, Kelz ❤️‍🔥

Notably, Mitchell’s historic milestone came in the fourth quarter with just over five minutes left. She scored a 26-foot three-point step-back jump shot to script her name in the record books. As per FeverStats on X, Mitchell is also the second fastest in the league to reach the 700 three-pointer milestone.

Only WNBA legend Diana Taurasi surpasses her in this metric. And to be honest, this isn’t even surprising. Her shots from beyond the arc have been a staple of her game ever since her collegiate days. In fact, she even held the all-time NCAA record for career three-pointers before entering the WNBA (later broken by players like Caitlin Clark and Taylor Robertson).

Now, she has carried forward the same consistency in her three-point volume scoring in the league as well. This record is a perfect testament to that consistency. Last year, Mitchell already broke the franchise record for the most three-pointers by a single player when she surpassed Tamika Catchings’ tally of 606.

Kelsey Mitchell’s three-point scoring percentage has decreased drastically this season. For context, she’s scoring just over 34% from deep at the moment, which is far less than the neighborhood of 40% that she was scoring in the last few seasons, as per ESPN.

Nevertheless, she remains one of the team’s most efficient and trustworthy three-point scorers. We even saw it in the Atlanta Dream game, where she led the team in made shots from deep (3). She went 3 of 7 from beyond the arc and a staggering 10 of 15 from the field to finish the night with 26 points.

Yet despite this hot scoring night for Mitchell, the performance wasn’t enough to carry the Indiana Fever to a win. And after the game, the Fever guard was quick to pinpoint the team’s shortcomings.

Kelsey Mitchell Pinpoints Indiana Fever’s Defensive Inconsistencies After Atlanta Loss

From an overall perspective, the Indiana Fever were formidable on offense. They scored 56% from the field and even hit 47% from deep. Individual performances also add up in this regard, as both Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark scored 20+ points.

But the Indiana Fever were equally poor on the other end of the court. And being a senior of the team, Kelsey Mitchell was quick to highlight it in the post-game presser.

“I think coach made a good point of making sure the defense is what you value first,” Mitchell said via the Indiana Fever YouTube channel. “You guys see us at our best, and I always say this, you guys see us at our best when we are defending. I think that when we let people get too comfortable, you don’t get your best offensive segments that you should.”

Defense has been the Indiana Fever’s kryptonite this season. Although they boast a decent defensive rating of 104.1 at the moment, there have been multiple games when they just haven’t been able to make the stops. The Atlanta Dream game was one such instance.

The Fever allowed the Dream to shoot 54% from the field and 39% from deep. All five starters of the opposition scored in double figures, with Angel Reese leading the night with 21 points. Furthermore, the Fever weren’t even clean in their defensive approach.

Kelsey Mitchell and team sent Atlanta to the free-throw line 35 times in the game. The Dream capitalized on it with 27 successful shots and, at the end of the day, was one of the primary difference-makers in the 101-108 defeat.

These are some of the issues the Fever will have to tackle as soon as possible before they face the Atlanta Dream again on the road at the State Farm Arena.