From the moment Caitlin Clark entered Carver-Hawkeye Arena Thursday with a dramatic discard of her warmup garb, both the Iowa superstar and the sold-out, black-and-yellow crowd immediately looked toward the history books.
Needing just eight points in Iowa's game against Michigan to surpass Kelsey Plum as the all-time leading scorer in DI women's basketball, the Carver-Hawkeye crowd crescendoed when Clark touched the ball, and the former Naismith winner performed her solo perfectly — Clark scored each of Iowa's first eight points, shattering Plum's record with a trademark, quick-trigger three-ball toeing the center-court logo.
HISTORY ‼️ Caitlin Clark is the new NCAA Women’s Basketball’s All-Time Leading Scorer. 🐐 x
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork)
💻: PeacockI
But Clark's assault on the history books continued far beyond the opening few minutes, as in a career of exemplary performances, the senior offered possibly her best yet in Iowa's dominant 106-89 win over the Wolverines.
Sharing the historic moment with her teammates, Clark flexed her standout facilitation skills with three straight assists to Hannah Stuelke after breaking the record. But with Clark's aura still very much on fire, she returned to her sweet-stroking ways with four more first-quarter threes of Herculean difficulty — Clark nailed an and-one three from the same cornfield she broke Plum's record, a deep bomb off the pick-and-roll and a step-back triple that left Michigan's defense looking for the North Star.
🐐 LEGACY: Be like 22 — why Caitlin Clark's already historic legacy is just beginning
The senior sensation finished the opening ten minutes with 23 points, including five made threes, as several personal records entered Clark's sightline.
Anticipatory tremors rumbled through Iowa City, as Clark entered the final six minutes of Thursday's game just two points away from her previous personal best (46) and the Iowa single-game scoring record (48). But three-straight swells from the home crowd fizzled into three dejected "aws" as each of Clark's attempts missed the mark.
Clark finally earned herself a trip to the line, and the career 86 percent free-throw shooter matched her personal best in a typically automatic fashion. Concerns about once again falling just short of school history quickly crumbled, as Clark drilled yet another three the very next possession to claim yet another slice of Iowa City immortality.
Her ninth triple of the afternoon also tied her record for three-point makes, and Clark exited the game to a standing ovation with 49 points, 13 assists and five boards, improving her career total to 3,569 points.
And while Clark's distribution stole the headlines last time out, becoming the sixth player to eclipse 1,000 assists, she wowed again Thursday, totaling 13 or more times for the eighth time in her career while continuing to scale the all-time leaderboard. Clark could realistically rise as high as fourth with a strong close to the season, and should she exhaust her final year of eligibility in 2025, would have a chance to dethrone Susie McConnell as the all-time assist leader.
Iowa's win over Michigan also improves the Hawkeyes to 23-3 on the season, setting up a massive clash in Assembly Hall vs. No. 14 Indiana on Feb. 22.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.
