IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark wasted no time becoming the NCAA women’s career scoring leader Thursday night, taking less than three minutes to score the eight points she needed to break Kelsey Plum’s record.
The Iowa star who has brought unprecedented attention to women’s basketball surpassed the record with her signature shot — a 35-foot 3-pointer that hit nothing but the bottom of the net.
And Clark didn’t let up from there. She finished with a career-high 49 points, tied her career best with nine 3-pointers and had 13 assists in No. 4 Iowa’s 106-89 victory over Michigan.
Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder took Clark out of the game with 1:46 left, shortly after she made her final 3, and she went to the bench to an ovation from the sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Clark’s huge night put her at 3,569 points and within 80 of her next milestone, Lynette Woodard’s major women’s college scoring record of 3,649.
Clark went into the game needing eight points to pass Plum’s total of 3,527. The record-breaker was a 3 off the dribble on the left wing near the Mediacom Court logo with 7:45 left in the first quarter.
“It’s cool. It’s cool to be in the same realm as a lot of really, really good players,” Clark said at halftime in a televised interview. “I’m lucky to do it because I have really good teammates and really good coaches and a great support system that surrounds me.”
Iowa won the tip and Clark, guarded by Laila Phelia, drove to the basket and banked in a shot from the right side. Clark hit a 3 from the left wing on Iowa’s next possession. The Hawkeyes turned the ball over twice before Clark took a pass from Gabbie Marshall in transition, stopped and and shot from deep on the left side.
When the ball went through, the fans — many of them standing and holding up phones to capture the moment — let loose a huge roar.
After Clark's 3, Phelia missed a layup, for Michigan and Iowa’s Molly Davis rebounded. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder called timeout and a celebration ensued. Clark hugged teammates, Bluder and staffers, and the record was acknowledged while delighted fans continued to scream.
“Just grateful. Thankful to be surrounded by people and be in a city that supports women’s basketball so much,” Clark said. “Be surrounded by my best friends and people that want to see me be great and push me to be great every single day.”
Plum scored 57 points on the night she broke the scoring record in 2017 as a senior at Washington, and Clark played as if she had that on her mind. She had 23 points in the first quarter, making five of her first seven 3-pointers and 8 of 10 shots overall.
Clark’s next target is the all-time major women’s college scoring record of 3,649 points by Kansas star Lynette Woodard from 1977-81. During Woodard’s era, women’s sports were governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Pearl Moore of Francis Marion holds the overall women’s record with 4,061 points from 1975-79.
Iowa has four regular-season games left, plus the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Barring injury, Clark, a senior who averages 32.1 points per game, is all but certain to pass Woodard. And she has the option to return for a fifth season of college basketball because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The crowd started chanting “One more year! One more year!” while Clark, who is projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, was doing a postgame television interview.
Among those offering congratulations on social media was LSU star Angel Reese, who shared the spotlight with Clark in last season’s national championship game won by the Tigers. The Big Ten Network put out a congratulatory compilation video that included Tom Brady and Peyton and Eli Manning.
Clark and her dynamic game have captivated the nation for two seasons. Last year, she led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA title game and was named AP player of the year. More than just her pursuit of the record, her long 3-pointers and flashy passes have raised interest in the women’s game to unprecedented levels. Arenas have been sold out for her games, home and away, and television ratings have never been higher.
It’s all been more than Clark imagined when the 6-foot guard from West Des Moines stayed in state and picked Iowa over Notre Dame in November 2019.
“I dreamed of doing really big things, playing in front of big crowds, going to the Final Four, maybe not quite on this level,” Clark said this week. “I think that’s really hard to dream. You can always exceed expectations, even your own, and I think that’s been one of the coolest parts.”
Though her basketball obligations and endorsement deals (State Farm ads, etc.) have put demands on her time, she said she is the same person who showed up on campus four years ago.
“I just go about my business as I did when I was a freshman during COVID,” Clark said. “Sure, my life has kind of changed somewhat. I still live the exact same way. I still act like a 22-year-old college kid.”
She said she still cleans her apartment, does laundry, plays video games, hangs out with friends and does schoolwork.
Her run to the record could have come earlier, but it arrived back at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where ticket resale prices for the Michigan game ranged from hundreds of dollars into the thousands. Fans again showed up early outside the arena, many wearing black-and-gold No. 22 jerseys and holding signs paying homage.
Mya Anderson and her friend, Ellie Steffensen, both 12, and their moms made the six-hour drive from Canton, South Dakota, to see Clark break the record.
“I think she’s inspired a lot of people,” Mya said.
“Yeah, a lot of little girls,” Ellie added.
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