It might take a lot to grab your attention away from the tumultuous end to the NFL season, but heads up: Over in the NCAA women’s basketball league, senior Caitlin Clark just grabbed the spotlight with both hands. The 22-year-old guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes had a milestone game on Thursday, scoring enough to bring her career points to 3,569. That gives her the most points of anyone in the history of NCAA women’s basketball, and she’s nowhere near done yet.
Her record-breaking shot came early in the Hawkeyes’ game against the Michigan Wolverines. Clark took her shot from roughly 35 feet out, sinking it on a bank to take her place in history. The moment was not unexpected by the Iowa faithful, and the Hawkeyes took a timeout to celebrate the achievement. You can see the moment here in this clip from the University of Iowa:
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Clark was already one to watch, but Thursday’s game put her on another level. She went on to score 49 points on the night, which was in itself a single-game record for Iowa women’s basketball. And in case there was any doubt, the Hawkeyes got the win, 106-89.
To put her career record in perspective, Clark is only one of a handful of college players — male or female — to clear 3,000 points. The game put her over the previous record that Kelsey Plum set playing for the University of Washington. She was already the only player in NCAA Division 1 history to rack up more than 3,000 points and 1,000 assists, and the Hawkeyes still have four games to go in the regular season. That gives Clark a good chance of surpassing the all-time Division 1 career points record (3,667 points) set by Louisiana State University’s Pete Maravich in 1970.
The accomplishment got shout-outs from Clark’s peers across the world of sports and beyond. Former Michigan Wolverine Tom Brady was part of a congratulatory video from the Big Ten Network, saying “We love witnessing greatness here.”
Congrats, Caitlin!
It’s not everyday someone breaks the all-time scoring record, so you know we had to go B1G.
pic.twitter.com/L8s4KQ5PTD
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 16, 2024
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And Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (a fellow spokesperson for State Farm) called her “one of the best college basketball players to ever play” at a post-Super Bowl press conference.
Congratulations to Clark!
Watch NCAA star Caitlin Clark break the women’s basketball scoring record originally appeared on Simplemost.com
