Her legacy has been solidified by perhaps the greatest women’s collegiate basketball player of all time.
Against Michigan on Thursday night, Iowa standout Caitlin Clark rose to become the all-time leading scorer in the NCAA women’s division.
To break the record, Clark only needed eight points, which were likely the easiest eight points of her life.
She accomplished this by making her first three field goals. It was impressive to witness how she managed to break the record.
For her, it was simply another shot, but Clark appeared to be pulling up in response to a prayer. She exceeded Kelsey Plum’s 3,527 points at Washington from 2013 to 2017, and it was all net.
The first eight points that Clark scored in the contest were Iowa’s first points overall.
As per Clark’s instructions, Michigan’s possession following the shot did not end the game. When Iowa got the ball back, though, it called a timeout to honor Clark’s accomplishment as the audience stood and cheered.
All it was for the senior was a sneak peek. In the first quarter, she made eight of her ten shots and scored 23 points.
The all-time NCAA points record for both men and women might be the next record Clark has her eye on.
She is currently in third place, three points behind “Pistol” Pete Maravich (3,667) and Antoine Davis (3,664), but she is expected to pass Maravich on March 3 when Iowa plays No. 2 Ohio State in the regular-season finale.
For Clark, breaking that record is a question of when rather than if. Following the Hawkeyes’ final five games of the regular season, they will play in the Big Ten tournament. They will then participate in the NCAA tournament.
The cost of tickets for the game on Thursday soared. According to the Associated Press, the average cost of a ticket on TickPick was $394.
Breaking the record is one way to measure Clark’s impact on the women’s game, but her real impact was felt at the March Madness tournament the previous year.
9.9 million people watched Iowa’s women’s college basketball game against LSU, which ended South Carolina’s 42-game winning streak, making it the most watched game in history, according to ESPN.
According to The Des Moines Register, Iowa halted the sale of season tickets for the 2023–24 season prior to Clark’s final season due to overwhelming demand.
In her initial attempt to break the women’s record on Saturday, Clark scored 31 points through three quarters, but she was scoreless in the fourth.
