Caitlin Clark breaks the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record

IOWA CITY — Caitlin Clark, Iowa’s incomparable No. 22, is now No. 1 on the NCAA women’s basketball scoring chart.

The inevitable became reality when Clark hit a transition 3-pointer at the 7:48 mark of the first quarter, boosting her career points total to 3,528, the new NCAA Division-I record.

Clark finished with 49 points (a career-high, a program record and a Carver record), boosting her total to 3,269, and the fourth-ranked Hawkeyes defeated Michigan, 106-89.

A sellout crowd of 14,998 was on hand at Carver-Hawkeye Arena — along with a worldwide audience of Peacock streaming subscribers — to witness the big moment, with Carver ticket prices in some cases soaring into the thousands of dollars.

“I can’t believe the maturity that Caitlin has handled this with,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said last week.

“It hasn’t been a burden to her; she’s coming in ready to bust it down.”

And Thursday, she did, and she did it quickly.

Clark scored inside for the first points of the game, then added a 3-pointer to make it 5-2.

With Iowa trailing 6-5, Gabbie Marshall snagged a loose ball in Iowa’s backcourt and got it to Clark, who dribbled twice and launched a 30-footer that found net.

Shortly thereafter, Iowa called timeout and Clark was mobbed by her teammates as the crowd went bananas.

By the end of the first quarter, she had 23 points. By halftime, it was 28 points, four rebounds and eight assists, and Iowa led 53-41.

Clark reached the mark in her 126th career game. It took Kelsey Plum 139 games to score 3,527 in her career at the University of Washington (2013-17).

“(The record pursuit) has not been a distraction at all,” Clark insisted Sunday, after the Hawkeyes lost to Nebraska.

Clark is eligible to return to Iowa for a fifth season because of an NCAA grant for athletes in the classes of 2021-24, due to the 2020 COVID pandemic.

If she does come back, she will send her final points tally to a number (probably 5,000-plus) that is unlikely ever to be touched.

If she decides that four years at the collegiate level is enough and declares for April’s WNBA Draft, she is the presumptive No. 1 pick of the Indiana Fever.

Thursday’s mark was the latest in a series of scoring milestones — each lauded by an accompanying commemorative basketball — that Clark has attained.

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Photos: Caitlin Clark breaks NCAA women’s basketball all-time scoring record

She passed Megan Gustafson (2,804 points) as Iowa’s career leader Nov. 12 at Cedar Falls.

She hit the 3,000-point mark Dec. 6 at Ames.

She became the Big Ten leader Jan. 31, surpassing Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell (3,402).

A native of West Des Moines and former five-star recruit out of Dowling Catholic High School, Clark picked the Hawkeyes over Notre Dame and Iowa State.

She played her first season at Iowa in front of empty gyms, an aftereffect of the 2020 pandemic. But it was obvious from Day 1 she was different from anybody else, commonly earning plaudits such as “transcendent” and “generational.”

And when fans were allowed back in arenas, they came in remarkable volume, both home and away.

As a freshman, Clark averaged 26.6 points per game. That figure rose to 27.0 as a sophomore, then 27.8 as a junior, when she was named national player of the year by virtually everybody.

Prior to Thursday’s game, she was averaging 32.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game in her senior campaign.

Clark ranks No. 6 on the NCAA women’s assists chart, crossing the 1,000-assist mark Sunday.

Not to be lost among her achievements, Clark has never missed a game due to injury. The Hawkeyes are 97-28 during her career, highlighted by an NCAA tournament finals appearance in 2023 and two Big Ten tournament titles.

Though this was the biggie, two scoring frontiers still remain:

* Lynette Woodard (Kansas, 1977-81) holds the women’s college record of 3,649. During Woodard’s era, women’s sports were governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

* And Pete Maravich (LSU, 1967-70) owns the college record (men’s and women’s), with 3,667 points at LSU, averaging 44.2 points per game in his three seasons.

Iowa (23-3 overall, 12-2 Big Ten) stayed in a second-place tie with Indiana, one game behind Ohio State.

If the Hawkeyes reach their limit of games (the final of both postseason tournaments), Clark will play 13 more times this season and push her career total close to 4,000 points.

And now, we return you to the remainder of your regularly scheduled women’s basketball season.

NCAA all-time career women’s basketball scoring leaders

1. Caitlin Clark, Iowa (present), 3,569

2. Kelsey Plum, Washington (2017), 3,527

3. Kelsey Mitchell, Ohio State (2018), 3,402

4. Jackie Stiles, Missouri State (2001), 3,393

5. Brittney Griner, Baylor (2013) 3,283

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com