Caitlin Clark Breaks Scoring Record
By Connor Dullinger Feb 18, 2024
Record shattered. Yet there is more to come. It was a 30-foot logo three-pointer from Caitlin Clark that broke the record for most career points in women’s NCAA history. For any other NCAA women’s basketball player, this is considered a circus shot, but Clark isn’t your typical basketball player. After a career-high 49 points and a 106-89 victory over the Michigan Wolverines the Hawkeye guard eclipsed former Washington Husky Kelsey Plum as the leader for most career points in women’s NCAA history.
Plum set the record in 2017 with a career total of 3,527 points. The Hawkeye guard also eclipsed this mark having played 13 less games. The reigning national player of the year scored or assisted on 79 of the 106 total points scored in the game, this being the most by any Division I athlete in the last 25 years.
Despite having taken the scoring record, Clark is still looking to shatter more records before her collegiate career concludes. The Hawkeye guard will have four regular season games to try and break Pete Maravich’s record for the most career points in NCAA history for both men and women. Maravich’s record currently stands at 3,667 meaning Clark is 99 points shy from breaking Pistol Pete’s long-standing record of 3,667 points.
The 6’0 sharpshooter is averaging 32.8 points per game this season absolutely thrashing any competition that comes her way. In her collegiate career, Clark has an unbelievable fifty three 30-point contests with 16 this season. This is the most 30-point games by any Division I player in the last 25 seasons. Moreover, she has twelve 40-point performances, four of these performances happening this season which is again the most by any Division I player in the last 25 seasons. Clark is currently second in triple-doubles in Division I history. She currently has 15 and is 11 short of current record holder Sabrina Ionescu.
Across the sports world, current and former athletes spoke on the incredible feat that Clark was able to accomplish.
“Congratulations on the record, and really your entire season! I appreciate what you do for the game, much respect and love! See you at the next level, hopefully, sooner than later,” Plum told Clark via X.
Plum was not the only one impressed by everything the Iowa sharpshooter has been able to do in her short career.
“Caitlin’s special,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “The record speaks for itself, and it’s cool. From a scoring perspective, from a shooting perspective, just doing what she’s doing — she could pick anybody that she talks about in terms of being an inspiration. If she models something of her game after me, I don’t take that for granted.”
Clark has taken the collegiate sports world by storm and has served as an icon and role model for young female athletes across the nation. For her record-breaking game, a sold-out crowd of 14,998 fans packed the Carver-Hawkeye Arena to capture the milestone moment. From the 2022 season to the 2023 season the ticket revenues for women’s basketball at Iowa nearly doubled due to the excitement that Clark brings to the game. The Iowa sharpshooter has inspired generations of young female athletes to excel and reach for the stars.
“You have little girls watching Caitlin Clark on TV, wanting to be like her. From a young age, they have somebody to idolize,” Hall of Fame Missouri State guard Jackie Stiles said.
Clark’s high school basketball coach Kristin Meyer sees the legacy that Clark is creating and figures that she will inspire the next generation of basketball players.
“We're going to see over the next five to 10 years so many more players who are pushing those boundaries like Caitlin has,” Meyer said. “You're going to see the logo 3s become so much more popular. You're going to see the stepbacks and the off-the-dribble and in different things that people are trying to emulate.”
