In the second quarter of Iowa’s victory over Northwestern, Caitlin Clark received a pass, dribbled past opponents, raced to the rim, and slid a layup through the net to move up to the No. 2 spot in the NCAA women’s basketball rankings.
On Wednesday in Evansville, Indiana, with roughly five minutes left in the first half, Clark made a shot. In the 110-74 win, she had a game-high 35 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds.
“I didn’t even know at what point it occurred,” Clark told reporters.
To become the second-highest scorer in NCAA women’s basketball history, Clark overtook former Ohio State player Kelsey Mitchell, who finished her collegiate career with 3,402 points.
She now trails former Washington player Kelsey Plum, who set a record with 3,527 points for the Huskies, by just 103 points. By surpassing Mitchell, Clark (3,424 points) also took the lead as the highest scorer in Big Ten history.
Hawkeyes shots were better than Wildcats overall, 55.9% to 41.5%, and from 3-point range, 46.4% to 38.9%. Along with outrebounding the Wildcats 42–30, they also recorded a 28–5 assist–to–turnover ratio.
They won 50–24 points in the paint, 14–8 second-chance points, and 19–10 fast break points over the Wildcats. They led by as much as 37 points during the 40-minute game, and they maintained the lead for 36:42.
The Hawkeyes led 24–15 going into the second quarter thanks to 10 points from Clark. About 90 seconds into the quarter, she scored her next basket, a driving layup, bringing her point total within one point of Mitchell’s.
About 3:32 later, Clark passed Mitchell. At Welsh-Ryan Arena, the play began with an inbound pass at the other end of the court.
Clark performed a crossover from the top of the 3-point arc, dribbled through the paint, then dribbled over half the court. Then, she lightly bounced a shot off the backboard and through the rim with her left hand.
The star of the Hawkeyes scored eight points in the opening quarter and eighteen in the first half. In the third and fourth, she added an additional nine and eight. She converted 3 of her 12 3-point tries and 11 of her 22 shots. Clark also completed all ten of her efforts at free throws.
Hannah Stuelke, a forward for the Hawkeyes, and Katie Martin, a guard, contributed 17 and 16 points, respectively. Guard Melannie Daley of the Wildcats led the squad in points scored off the bench with 19.
This season, Clark has scored the most points per game in college basketball—both men’s and women’s—averaging 32. She also logged a national-best 160 assists through 21 games for the Hawkeyes.
When they play Michigan in Iowa City on February 15, she has the potential to surpass Plum in the women’s scoring record if she keeps up her average of 32 points per game.
Pete Maravich, a former guard for LSU, has the highest point total (3,667) of any player in NCAA basketball history, regardless of gender. Clark’s career total is 243 points less than Maravich’s. On senior day, when the Hawkeyes visit Ohio State in their regular-season finale on March 3 in Iowa City, she would pass Maravich if she maintained her 32 point average for the next eight games.
Maryland (12-9) and the No. 3 Hawkeyes (20-2) will play on Sunday in College Park, Maryland, at 8 p.m. EST.
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