Kaitlin Clark: Iowa Hockey star becomes all-time leading scorer in NCAA men's and women's basketball

CNN
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Iowa Hawkeyes' star guard Kaitlyn Clark became the NCAA's all-time leading scorer in basketball — male or female — in a win over the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday, surpassing Hall of Famer “Pistol.” Pete Maravich.

Clarke entered the match needing 18 points to surpass Maravich for the record of 3,667 points. She set the record with a pair of free throws in the final second of the first half. In a brief interview at halftime, she said the record wasn't on her mind at the time.

“Not really, but when they announced it and everyone screamed, that’s when I knew,” she said.

Clark finished the game with 35 points, 9 assists, and 6 rebounds as No. 6 Iowa beat No. 2 Ohio State 93-83, giving her a total of 3,685 points for her career.

After the match, she said she was still “taking it all in.”

“I am so grateful to all those people who will stick with us and support us and support us over the four years I have been there,” she said. “Maybe it won't surprise me for a little while, but I'll enjoy it with my family and my teammates and feel really grateful to be in this place.”

Known for her precise shooting ability and deep, skillful playmaking, the 22-year-old has become one of the biggest names of all time. University sports And recently Set the all-time scoring mark In NCAA women's basketball. Her first-half performance against Ohio State on Sunday was representative of her skill set, as she made 15 shots, including 10 from deep, while adding six assists as defenders rushed to stop her.

Clark exploded into the public consciousness last year with her incredible play throughout March Madness as she led Iowa State to the national championship game, the first title game in school history. There, Iowa State fell to the LSU Tigers in a game Characterized by noticeable spitting Between Clark and LSU forward Angel Reese.

Since then, Clark has developed into a dominant force in all of college basketball. At the same time, her popularity outside the court knew no bounds.

Clark University of Iowa t-shirts and t-shirts are retailed online FanaticsIt is the best-selling college sports edition since it began selling collegiate sports apparel in 2022, the site told CNN. It has also signed deals with Gatorade, Nike, State Farm, and others.

Her record-breaking performance on Sunday earned praise from LeBron James, who holds the NBA scoring record. CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan said Clark's achievement represents a defining moment in the history of women's sports and has changed the way people look at basketball.

“I think Kaitlyn is making a lot of us look at this sport, which is an American institution, in a different way,” she said.

The NCAA Division-I basketball scoring record of 3,667 career points was set in 1970 by “Pistol Pete” Maravich, Hall of Fame Known for making creative games, outdoor shooting and mop poetry. At LSU, Maravich scored more than 44 points on 38 attempts per game over three seasons at a time when there was no three-point line, no shot clock and freshmen were not allowed to play. He died in 1988 at the age of 40.

His son, Jason Maravich, said Yahoo Sports last week The records are “comparing apples and oranges” but she added: “I think my dad was a big fan.”

Last month, Clarke became the all-time leading scorer NCAA women's basketballsurpassing University of Washington's Kelsey Bloom, and becoming the all-time leading scorer History of Greater Women's College Basketballsurpassing Lynette Woodard, who played for Kansas under the NCAA.

Clark, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, proved that her commitment to her state alma mater in 2020 was a masterstroke for herself, the hockey team and women's basketball as a whole.

It was Clark I handed over the reins To the Iowa offense almost immediately, he averaged nearly 27 points as a freshman. In her third season with the team, Iowa reached its first NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship game, where Clark continued her prolific scoring while adding over 7 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game.

It was one of the most impressive things in Clark's career Annual progress. This season, she is averaging just over 32 points — the highest of her career — on a solid shooting percentage (46.9%), including nearly 40% from three-point range.

As it continued to develop, interest in its game increased.

“I started in a year where there was coronavirus, and you're just playing in front of your family and cardboard cutouts,” she told TNT Sports in October 2023. “And now I am in my final year, playing in front of 15,000 spectators.” Folks, it's special, it's historic.

“Nothing has been done in women's basketball before,” she said.

Like Steph Curry in the NBA and Sabrina Ionescu in the WNBA, Clarke's ability to hit defense-breaking 3-pointers from downtown has made her an elite talent as well as a social media darling.

Clark said last week She will enter the WNBA draft at the end of this season, avoiding the final year of eligibility. She will likely play for the Indiana Fever after the team won the lottery for the No. 1 overall pick.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the registration history. Kaitlyn Clark became the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer in men's and women's basketball.