Iowa Phenom Caitlin Clark Breaks Another Record

Hawkeyes basketball player now holds the major college scoring record for women
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 29, 2024 12:30 AM CST
Caitlin Clark Breaks Another Record
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, right, celebrates next to coach Lisa Bluder after an Iowa basket against Minnesota during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Minneapolis.   (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Caitlin Clark has another career record on her astounding resume: the most points by any major college women's player to ever take the court. For Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder and her peers, this one matters the most. Iowa's superstar guard scored 33 points to lead the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes to a 108-60 romp of Minnesota, pushing her past Lynette Woodard on the all-time list with 3,650 points, the AP reports. "Tonight is the night of the real record," said Bluder, who played for Northern Iowa from 1979-83. "For some reason the NCAA does not want to recognize the basketball that was played prior to 1982, and that's wrong. We played basketball back then. They just don't want to recognize it, and that hurts the rest of us who were playing at that time. There's no reason why that should not be the true record."

Earlier this month, Clark passed Kelsey Plum (3,527) as the all-time NCAA women's scoring leader. Woodard totaled 3,649 points from 1977-81 for Kansas when the sport was under the purveyance of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, before the NCAA began sanctioning women's basketball with the 1981-82 season. Clark left little doubt she'd get the record by dribbling left off a screen and swishing a 3-pointer from the top of the key just 13 seconds into the game. She swished her first four 3-pointers, three of them from extra deep, and had 15 points in the first 3:18 of the game.

She had 21 points at halftime and spent most of the second half flashing her passing skills to find open teammates, but finally with 4:17 left she buried her eighth 3-pointer of the game to pass Woodard. She also set the NCAA single-season record for 3-pointers in the process and finished with the 17th triple-double of her career. Pete Maravich (3,667) is the all-time major college leader for either gender, just 17 points ahead of Clark. Pearl Moore of Francis Marion has the overall women's record with 4,061 points from 1975-79 at the small-college level in the AIAW. There are three other small-college players from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics ahead of Clark.

(More Caitlin Clark stories.)

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