IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — It shouldn't take long for Caitlin Clark to become the NCAA women's career scoring leader when No. 4 Iowa hosts Michigan.
Clark goes into Thursday night's game needing eight points to pass Kelsey Plum's total of 3,527. Clark has scored at least eight in the first quarter in 17 of 25 games this season, and she's hasn't gone into a halftime with fewer than that.
“Obviously, she’s going to just blast it out of the water,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "So it’s going to be fun to see how many points she adds on to that.”
Clark and her dynamic game have captivated the nation for two seasons. Last year, she led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA title game and was named AP player of the year. More than just her pursuit of the record, her long 3-pointers and flashy passes have raised interest in the women's game to unprecedented levels. Arenas have been sold out for her games, home and away, and television ratings have never been higher.
It's all been more than Clark imagined when the 6-foot guard from West Des Moines stayed in state and picked Iowa over Notre Dame in November 2019.
“I dreamed of doing really big things, playing in front of big crowds, going to the Final Four, maybe not quite on this level,” Clark said. “I think that's really hard to dream. You can always exceed expectations, even your own, and I think that's been one of the coolest parts.”
Though her basketball obligations and endorsement deals (State Farm ads, etc.) have put demands on her time, she said she is the same person who showed up on campus four years ago.
“I just go about my business as I did when I was a freshman during COVID,” said Clark, a senior who still has another season of eligibility remaining, if she wants it. “Sure, my life has kind of changed somewhat. I still live the exact same way. I still act like a 22-year-old college kid.”
She said she still cleans her apartment, does laundry, plays video games, hangs out with friends and does schoolwork.
“The best way to debrief and get away from things is getting off your phone, getting off social media and enjoying what's around you and the people around you and the moments that are happening,” she said.
Her run to the record could have come earlier, but it arrived back at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where ticket resale prices for the Michigan game ranged from hundreds of dollars into the thousands. Fans again showed up early outside the arena, many wearing black-and-gold No. 22 jerseys and holding signs paying homage.
Mya Anderson and her friend, Ellie Steffensen, both 12, and their moms made the six-hour drive from Canton, South Dakota, to see Clark break the record.
“I think she’s inspired a lot of people,” Mya said.
“Yeah, a lot of little girls,” Ellie added.
Mya and Ellie both play basketball, and both said they try to do some of the things Clark does on the court, like shoot long 3s.
“But I’m not as good as her,” Ellie said.
Kelly Jared of Manchester, Iowa, said she likes everything about Clark and expects her impact on the women’s game to endure.
“She’s taken it to a new level,” Jared said. “The aspirations and goals that the current players and future players have, she has set that bar way up in the sky. And it’s perfect, because they will work to attain them. As as far as the fans, there’s excitement for the people who never watched women’s basketball. My son isn’t a basketball fan, but he watched Caitlin last year and he was sold. He absolutely loves her.”
Unlike Sunday's loss at Nebraska, when Fox drew almost 2 million viewers for the game, this one was streamed on Peacock.
After Clark breaks the NCAA record Plum set in 2017, her next target will be the all-time major women’s college scoring record of 3,649 by Kansas star Lynette Woodard from 1977-81. During Woodard’s era, women’s sports were governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Francis Marion’s Pearl Moore holds the overall women's record with 4,061 points from 1975-79.
“I understand the magnitude of this,” Clark said. “It's come along with how my four years have gone, and it's crazy looking back on how fast everything has gone. I'm really thankful and grateful.”
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