DeWanna Bonner reached a WNBA milestone in her first game with the Indiana Fever on Saturday. By scoring seven points in Indiana’s season-opening contest, the former Auburn star moved into third place on the WNBA’s career scoring list.

Bonner also had three rebounds, two assists and two steals in the first game of her 16th WNBA season. But it was the two free throws that the 37-year-old guard-forward sank with 3:13 to play in the Fever’s 83-54 victory over the Chicago Sky that earned a standing ovation from the crowd of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Bonner has 7,489 points in her WNBA career – one more than Tina Thompson scored from 1997 through 2013.

“I kind of got a little bit emotional, you know, to be at this moment in front of a sold-out crowd, in front of all this attention,” Bonner said, “and to have that moment is just pretty special to me because, I don’t want to say I deserve that, but I’m trying to be as humble as I can. But being around that long, I kind of feel like I deserved that moment, and for it to happen right then and there in this time period in my career, it was just – I don’t know. I’m just so grateful.”

The crowd and ABC, which televised the game nationally, weren’t there for Bonner’s impending milestone, though. They were produced by the attention drawn to the WNBA by Bonner’s new teammate, Caitlin Clark.

After winning the league’s Rookie of the Year Award last season, Clark started the 2025 campaign with a triple-double on Saturday – 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

“DB is somebody that is just a Hall of Famer, like a legend,” Clark said of Bonner. “Not only a good basketball player, a great person, a great leader. The strongest voice in our locker room is hers. And it’s fun to have been around her now for about a month just to get to learn from her and soak it in. I’m really happy she got to do it at the free-throw line and all the fans could go crazy and cheer for her because she certainly deserved that moment, and it was really awesome to see and be a part of.”

During the game, Bonner also tied Thompson for eighth place on the WNBA’s list for career rebounds with 3,070. Tina Charles is the all-time rebounds leader with 4,014.

Ahead of Bonner on the all-time scoring list now are Diana Taurasi with 10,646 points and Charles with 7,696.

The Fever plays the Atlanta Dream at 6 p.m. CDT Tuesday in its next game.

A McDonald’s All-American at Fairfield High School, Bonner played at Auburn from the 2005-06 season through the 2008-09 campaign. She remains the Tigers’ career scoring leader and was the SEC Player of the Year as a senior.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.