Iowa star Caitlin Clark became the all-time NCAA scoring leader, breaking the late Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old record, when she made two free throws during the Hawkeyes’ game against Ohio State on Sunday.
Clark entered the game needing 18 points to pass Maravich’s total of 3,617. Maravich’s record fell four days after Clark broke Lynette Woodard’s major college women’s record with 33 points against Minnesota.
Woodard was among the attendees at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to help Clark celebrate. Also on hand were basketball great Maya Moore, who is Clark’s favorite player, and Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan.
On Thursday, Clark announced she would enter the 2024 WNBA draft and skip the fifth year of eligibility available to athletes who competed during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is projected to be the No 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever, and the WNBA already is seeing a rise in ticket sales.
“Listen, this is the greatest ticket on the planet right now,” Woodard said in an interview with ESPN before the game, where tickets went for close to $600 on resale sites. “Hey, I’m going to enjoy this right now.”
Clark is all but assured of one or two more appearances at the arena in Iowa City after Sunday. Iowa are projected to be a No 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament, meaning they would be at home for the first two rounds.
Pearl Moore of Francis Marion owns the overall women’s record with 4,061 points from 1975-79 at the small-college level in the AIAW. Moore had 177 points at Anderson Junior College before enrolling at Francis Marion.
Clark is 411 behind Moore, and she has only three to 10 more games left in an Iowa uniform depending on how far the Hawkeyes advance in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
Maravich’s all-time scoring mark was one of the more remarkable in sports history: It was set in just 83 games across three seasons from 1967 to 1970. There was no shot clock or three-point line in those days. The three-point line was adopted in 1986. Maravich averaged 44.2 points per game, and scored more than 60 in a game four times.
With Clark the headliner, Iowa have helped sell out or break an attendance record in 30 of 32 games this season. The only two games that didn’t happen were at a Thanksgiving tournament in Florida.
“She is just a phenomenal, phenomenal player who has helped change the women’s game,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “She has helped bring an enormous amount of light and respect and viewers to the women’s game. She is awesome. She is a competitor.
“You either love her or you hate her, but you normally hate her because of how hard she competes. I have a tremendous amount of respect for somebody who is that competitive and has never met a shot she didn’t like.”
